Donald R. Bringgold, 74; Ex-Prosecutor, Defense Attorney

As lead prosecutor for the Los Angeles city attorney’s criminal division in the 1950s, Donald R. Bringgold prosecuted mobster Mickey Cohen.

But later, while in private practice, Bringgold defended Cohen, who lauded his attorney by telling him that “either side, you always treated me like a gentleman and treated me fairly.”

The criminal defense lawyer, whose clients ranged from Hollywood stars to a defendant in one of Los Angeles’ most sensational murder trials, died Nov. 9 at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach of an infection after hip surgery. Bringgold, who also had melanoma, was 74.

After graduating from the UCLA School of Law in 1954, Bringgold was hired by the city attorney’s office, where he quickly rose to head of the criminal division as lead prosecutor.

His reputation as a litigator prompted legendary Los Angeles defense attorney Jerry Giesler to invite him to join his exclusive three-man law firm in 1958. The firm, which operated out of a one-story cottage on Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills, defended everyone from murderers to Hollywood stars such as Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe and Lana Turner.

In 1959, Giesler made Bringgold a partner and assigned him to a case that attracted worldwide attention: the murder trial of Dr. R. Bernard Finch and Carole Tregoff, Finch’s mistress and former receptionist.

The two were charged with killing Finch’s estranged wife, Barbara. Prosecutors said Finch ambushed his wife in the garage of her West Covina home because he wanted to avoid sharing $750,000 in community property with her.

They said Tregoff, whom Bringgold represented, accompanied Finch the night of the killing and carried a “murder kit”: an attache case that included a carving knife, clothesline, drugs and a flashlight.

After a riot nearly broke out during a hearing for Tregoff in West Covina, the trial was moved to the then-new county courthouse in downtown Los Angeles, where one courtroom--designed for high-profile cases--included a built-in press box and 263 seats for spectators. It wasn’t nearly enough.

The trial drew such interest that the line of potential spectators wrapped around the entire block, and people were selling their places in line as early as 6 a.m.

In 1961, after two trials that ended in hung juries, Finch was found guilty of first-degree murder and Tregoff of second-degree murder. They were also convicted of conspiracy to commit murder. The pair got life sentences, but Tregoff was paroled in 1969 and Finch in 1971.

Bringgold was born in 1927 in Dodge Center, a small farming town in Minnesota. After his parents divorced, he and his father moved to Chicago and, ultimately, settled in Los Angeles.

Bringgold earned a degree in economics at UCLA before entering the first class at the new UCLA School of Law.

The law wasn’t Bringgold’s only passion. A lifelong car racing enthusiast, he boasted of having been to the Indianapolis 500 race 47 times, most recently in May. He had longtime friendships with racing greats such as Mario Andretti, Dan Gurney, Phil Hill, Roger Ward and A.J. Foyt, for whom he drew up his first racing contract.

Bringgold’s wife of 45 years, Janet of Newport Beach, said her husband never totally retired from practicing law. He would pick and choose his cases as the years went on, she said, and he last appeared in a courtroom earlier this year.

In addition to his wife, Bringgold is survived by two daughters, Courtney and Kimberly (a Los Angeles County deputy district attorney), both of Newport Beach.