Judge Warns Young Defense on Witness List

A disclosure that lawyers for former Norwalk Assemblyman Bruce E. Young are thinking of calling 108 witnesses--including more than a third of the state Legislature--to testify in Young’s political corruption case brought a warning from a federal judge Tuesday against turning the trial into a “circus.”

Among the possible witnesses included on the list turned over to federal prosecutors by Young’s attorneys are former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr., Lt. Gov. Leo McCarthy, Assembly Speaker Willie Brown (D-San Francisco) and Assembly Speaker Pro Tem Mike Roos (D-Los Angeles).

The defense witness list, roughly three times the number of witnesses scheduled by the prosecution in the case, includes 41 current members of the 80-member California Assembly and the 40-member Senate. Also on the list are four former state legislators.

Theme of Defense

Young, 40, a Democratic assemblyman from 1976 to 1984, is charged with failing to report income from convicted political corrupter W. Patrick Moriarty and from a cable television company in 1981 and 1982 while he crusaded for legislation benefiting the cable television industry and Moriarty’s fireworks company.

One expected theme of his defense is that his actions were no different from many Sacramemto politicians and that any alleged violations of state political campaign reporting laws were not intentional.

Chief Assistant U.S. Atty. Richard E. Drooyan, protesting the size of the defense witness list, called it a “farce” and said it was so large that it gives the government no idea who Young actually intends to call to testify on his behalf.

“I don’t think this witness list is in good faith,” he told U.S. District Judge Dickran Tevrizian. “What this is is a farce. It’s maybe 5% accurate.”

Tevrizian, responding to Drooyan’s charge that Young’s lawyers had included “virtually every member of the Legislature” on the list, gave the defense 24 hours to explain to the government what testimony might be expected from each of the potential witnesses.

“When you give a witness list that consists of a telephone book in size, you’re going to have to provide an explanation of what they will testify to,” the judge said.

Tevrizian added:

“If you are going to subpoena every member of the Legislature, you’re going to turn this trial into a circus and I’m not going to permit that.”

List Size Defended

San Francisco lawyer George Walker, representing Young, denied any intention of turning the trial into a circus and promised to comply with the judge’s order, but defended the size of the list.

“I don’t believe we have anyone on the list that Moriarty didn’t refer to in his testimony (on the witness stand last week),” Walker said.

During jury selection last week, Drooyan disclosed that he plans to call Sen. David A. Roberti (D-Los Angeles) and Sen. Barry Keene (D-Benicia) as prosecution witnesses along with Assemblymen Burt Margolin (D-Los Angeles), Richard E. Floyd (D-Hawthorne), and Norman Waters (D-Plymouth).

Drooyan said a list of 37 probable prosecution witnesses also includes former state Sen. Dennis Carpenter (R-Irvine) and former Assemblyman Dennis Mangers (D-Huntington Beach).

The defense witness list provided to the government Tuesday includes half the state Senate. The 20 senators named include Roberti and Keene along with:

Alfred E. Alquist (D-San Jose), Ruben Ayala (D-Chino), Robert G. Beverly (R-Manhattan Beach), Daniel E. Boatwright (D-Concord), William Campbell (R-Hacienda Heights), William A. Craven (R-Oceanside), Ed Davis (R-Valencia), Ralph C. Dills (D-Gardena), John Doolittle (R-Citrus Heights), Jim Ellis (R-San Diego), James W. Nielson (R-Rohnert Park), Nicholas C. Petris (D-Oakland). Robert Presley (D-Riverside), H.L. Richardson (R-Glendora), Alan Robbins (D-Van Nuys), Newton R. Russell (R-Glendale), John Seymour (R-Anaheim) and Diane Watson (D-Los Angeles).

Assembly members listed as possible defense witnesses are Brown, Roos, Margolin, Floyd, Waters and 16 others:

Rusty Areias (D-Los Banos), William P. Baker (R-Danville), Tom Bane (D-Tarzana), Tom Bates (D-Oakland), Dennis Brown (R-Signal Hill), William J. Filante (R-Greenbrae), Nolan Frizzelle (R-Huntington Beach), Marian W. La Follette (R-Northridge), William H. Lancaster (R-Covina), Bill Leonard (R-Redlands), John R. Lewis (R-Orange), Pat Nolan (R-Glendale), Steve Peace (D-Chula Vista), Richard Polanco (D-Los Angeles), Maxine Waters (D-Los Angeles) and Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley).

Former Assembly members on the list include Ernie Konnyu (R-Saratoga), who now is in Congress, William Bagley (R-San Rafael), Louis J. Papan (D-Millbrae) and Richard Robinson (D-Santa Ana).