Fatal Shooting in Fullerton Home : Municipal Judge Maleck Found Dead in Apparent Suicide

North Orange County Municipal Judge Sidney Maleck, who easily retained his seat in the June 7 election, shot himself to death Tuesday in his Fullerton home, authorities said.

The 64-year-old judge left a note saying he was depressed about personal problems, Fullerton police said. Family and friends said Maleck suffered from diabetes and high blood pressure.

One family member said the stress of the recent judicial election campaign while he was in poor health may have been a factor. Also during that campaign, Maleck’s competence had been questioned. But one close friend said Maleck was despondent about a lawsuit against him and several members of the El Monte City Council, where he was city attorney until his appointment to the bench nearly two years ago.

“He didn’t want to be a strain on the family,” said one of his two daughters, Jackie Gomberg, 42, of Huntington Beach.

Officials in the north county court who worked with Maleck were stunned by the news Tuesday afternoon.

“All of us here are in just absolute shock; I just can’t believe it,” said William J. Brennan, a court administrator.

Maleck was last on the bench on Thursday. He told court administrators after that day’s session that he was not feeling well and would be off for a few days until he saw a doctor.

North county Presiding Judge Margaret R. Anderson said she talked with Maleck by telephone Tuesday morning to see how he was.

“He sounded in high spirits; he said the doctor told him to take it easy for a while. But Judge Maleck said he was feeling better,” Anderson said. “I’m still in shock. He really sounded as if everything was fine.”

Less than two hours after that telephone conversation, Maleck’s body was discovered by his wife of 46 years, Charlotte, police said.

She had left the house about 11:30 a.m. to go to the grocery store, according to police. She returned about 12:30 p.m. and found Maleck in a bedroom, with a gunshot wound to his head. A .22-caliber revolver was beside him. Police said the gun was registered to him.

An autopsy, required in cases of death by gunfire, is scheduled for today, a spokeswoman for the coroner’s office said.

Maleck was appointed to the bench in West Orange County Municipal Court by Gov. George Deukmejian in December, 1986. He told the governor’s office at the time that he preferred a seat in North Court, which was five minutes from his home, he said later.

The governor transferred Maleck to North Orange County Municipal Court when a judgeship opened there last October.

Privately, many members of the Orange County Bar Assn. were highly critical of Maleck’s appointment. They believed the governor should have appointed someone who had worked in the legal community in Orange County.

Maleck’s legal career had been primarily outside the county. He had been city attorney in El Monte for 10 years at the time he was appointed.

Maleck was the only incumbent Municipal judge in Orange County’s June election to face a challenger. His opponent, private attorney Michael A. Leversen of Anaheim, accused Maleck during the campaign of incompetency.

When Leversen and people in his campaign criticized the judge’s jury selection procedures in a misdemeanor case, Maleck responded by accusing Leversen of running a “sleazy” campaign.

Leversen received the endorsement of the Orange County Deputy District Attorneys’ Assn., which was rare for a challenger to an incumbent judge.

Leversen also received a higher rating in an Orange County Bar Assn. poll than Maleck. Leversen got nearly twice as many “highly qualified” ratings as the judge. And Maleck received more than twice as many “unqualified” ratings as Leversen.

Nevertheless, Maleck won the election easily, with nearly 60% of the vote.

Maleck’s daughter, Gomberg, said the family believes that the stress of the campaign may have been a contributing factor to his suicide.

But courthouse sources said Maleck was elated over the election results and did not seem concerned over some of the things his critics said about him.

“He understood that it was just politics,” one close friend said.

But the El Monte issue, according to one source, continued to trouble him.

While he was city attorney there, the El Monte became involved in a dispute with the neighboring city of Arcadia over a 100-acre parcel. One of the companies involved in a series of lawsuits over the issue, Public Storage Inc., filed a lawsuit against Maleck and the council members in El Monte.

The suit alleges that Maleck and the council met in illegal secret sessions to prepare an ordinance that would have imposed a 5% sales tax, which the company contended was targeted at it. The tax was eventually rescinded.

A Los Angeles Superior Court judge last month refused the city of El Monte’s request to dismiss the part of the suit involving Maleck.

El Monte Councilman Jack Crippen, a close friend of Maleck’s, disagreed that Maleck would have been despondent over the lawsuit.

“Sid was strong mentally; I just think he has been worn out physically,” Crippen said.

Though Maleck had his critics in the north county court, both among prosecutors and the defense bar, he had strong supporters too.

Anderson called Maleck “one of the nicest people I have ever worked with.”

“No matter what assignment I gave him, he always accepted it willingly,” she added. “He was a hard worker, often the last judge to leave the courthouse.”

In Maleck’s files is a letter from Louise G. Lee of Fullerton, who had served as a juror in his courtroom.

“We left your courtroom in a high mood, grateful to see the fine quality of judges in our community,” she stated.

Anderson said the seat will likely be filled by appointment by the governor.

Maleck served in the Navy during World War II. He received his undergraduate degree from St. John’s University and graduated from the New York Law School in 1952.

He was in private practice in New York until 1959, then became a corporation lawyer there. He moved to Orange County and began a private practice in Santa Ana in 1970.

Maleck became an assistant city attorney in San Bernardino in 1972. Two years later, he became an assistant city attorney in Burbank. He remained there until 1977, when he was appointed city attorney in El Monte.

He was a former president of the Los Angeles City Attorneys’ Assn., and is a former chairman of the San Gabriel Valley Red Cross chapter. He was also on the board of directors of the San Gabriel Valley Boys’ Club from 1978 to 1987.

Wayne C. Clayton, the El Monte police chief, praised Maleck’s community involvement.

“I don’t know where he found the time, but he was always there,” Clayton said.

After his appointment to the west county court, Maleck became the court’s liaison with the West Orange County Bar Assn.

Debra R. Smith, president of that bar group at the time, praised his work.

“In the seven years I have been a member (of the West Bar), we never had a liaison who was as innovative, creative and productive as you.”

Gomberg said that after his election victory, Maleck wanted to follow up on his attempts to bring more public school children into the courtroom to learn about the judicial system.

“He was very conscientious, very fair minded . . . a very gentle man,” his daughter said.

Times staff writer Craig Quintana in the San Gabriel Valley contributed to this story.