Figure in Gates Lawsuit Dies

Former Orange County Municipal Judge Bobby D. Youngblood, whose lawsuit against Sheriff Brad Gates for alleged harassment and illegal surveillance ended with a $375,000 settlement, has died. He was 58.

Youngblood died at John F. Kennedy Memorial Hospital in Indio on Christmas morning, after being taken to the emergency room from his residence in nearby La Quinta, a hospital supervisor said.

He had been to the hospital several times for complications from chronic lung disease, the supervisor said, but it was uncertain if that was the cause of death.

Youngblood, who was elected to the Municipal Court bench in 1980, feuded with Gates over a number of issues, including Gates’ running of the jail system.

The feud grew fierce when Youngblood was joined by Rancho Santiago College instructor George Wright and private investigator George Bland--two candidates who had run unsuccessful campaigns against the sheriff--in filing a lawsuit in 1983. The suit accused Gates of violating their civil rights with a campaign of illegal surveillance, monitoring, spying, harassing, intimidating and discrediting.

The flamboyant judge with a penchant for cowboy boots ran against Gates in 1986, predicting as in most Youngblood campaigns, it would be “a back-alley brawl--hatchets-at-two-feet kind of affair.” Youngblood lost the bitter campaign, and a month later resigned.

The lawsuit was settled in 1987 after disclosure that a tape recording of one of Gates’ political rivals had been found in files maintained by the Sheriff’s Department.

Gates denied any wrongdoing, and lawyers for the county later maintained it was less costly to settle the case than fight it in court.