Buron Fitts

Buron Fitts
Fitts c. 1935
29th District Attorney of Los Angeles County
In office December 3, 1928 – December 2, 1940
Preceded by	Asa Keyes
Succeeded by	John F. Dockweiler
29th Lieutenant Governor of California
In office January 4, 1927 – November 30, 1928
Preceded by	C. C. Young
Succeeded by	Herschel L. Carnahan
Personal details
Born	(1895-03-22)March 22, 1895 Belcherville, Texas, U.S.
Died	March 29, 1973(1973-03-29) (aged 78) Three Rivers, California, U.S.
Cause of death	Suicide by gunshot
Resting place	Forest Lawn Memorial Park
Political party	Republican
Spouses	Irene Wixson Shugart ​ ​ (m. 1919, divorced)​ Marion Warner Fitts ​ (m. 1924)​
Children	Mary Lou Fitts
Education	University of Southern California (L.L.B.)
Military service
Allegiance	United States
Branch/service	US Army Army Air Corps Army Air Forces
Years of service	1917-1919 1942-1945
Rank	Major
Unit	Pacific Overseas Air Technical Services Command
Battles/wars	World War I Battle of the Argonne World War II North Africa Europe
Awards	Purple Heart (2)

Buron Rogers Fitts (March 22, 1895 – March 29, 1973) was an American lawyer and politician from Los Angeles who served as the 29th lieutenant governor of California, from 1927 to 1928, and Los Angeles County District Attorney thereafter until 1940.

Early life

Born in Belcherville, Texas, Fitts received his law degree in 1916 from the University of Southern California and while a student there worked as a clerk for attorney Earl Rogers.

Fitts was a severely injured veteran of World War I whose base of political support lay in the American Legion organization of war veterans. He had taken shrapnel in the knee during the Battle of Argonne, and after ten years of surgeries he was forced to have it amputated.

Career

Prosecutors Fitts and Mabel Walker Willebrandt were troubling L.A. slot-machine businesses in the late 1920s, but according to Rev. Bob Shuler "slot-machine king" Bob Gans later made large contributions to Fitts' campaign funds

He was appointed deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County in 1920 during the term of Thomas Lee Woolwine and chief deputy in 1924 under Asa Keyes. He was elected lieutenant governor in 1926 and served in the administration of Governor C.C. Young. Fitts's term as lieutenant governor was from January 4, 1927, to November 30, 1928. Governor Young appointed H. L. Carnahan as lieutenant governor on December 4, 1928, to succeed Fitts.

In 1928, Keyes was indicted for bribery (in connection with the Julian Petroleum Company scandal), and Fitts resigned effective November 30 of that year to become a special prosecutor in that case. He was elected district attorney (the county's chief law officer) as well.

Fitts was also on Paramount Pictures’ dole. In 1930, Clara Bow's fiancé Rex Bell (wrongfully) accused Daisy De Voe, Clara Bow's secretary, of embezzlement and extortion. Fitts saw to it that Daisy was arrested, wasn't allowed to contact a lawyer, interrogated for twenty-seven straight hours, jailed without being charged and her safe deposit box was searched without a warrant. No evidence was found, and Daisy refused to sign a confession. She subsequently filed a false imprisonment suit against Fitts, and in retaliation, he induced a Grand Jury to indict Daisy on thirty-five counts of grand theft. After three days of deliberations, the jury found her not guilty on thirty-four charges, and, inexplicably, guilty for one. She served an 18-month sentence; the judge was also friendly with Paramount executives.

In 1930, Fitts ran for the Republican nomination for Governor of California, coming in third place behind incumbent Governor C. C. Young and San Francisco Mayor James Rolph.

Fitts was elected for a second term in 1932, and he investigated the death of Hollywood producer-director-screenwriter Paul Bern, the husband of actress Jean Harlow. Samuel Marx, in his book Deadly Illusions (1990) accuses Fitts of having been bribed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio officials to accept a fabricated version of Bern's suicide to avoid scandal in Hollywood. Fitts was also indicted for bribery and perjury in 1934 for allegedly taking a bribe to drop a statutory rape charge against a millionaire real-estate promoter. He was acquitted two years later. He was also accused of using his position to block action against the rapist of Patricia Douglas at the MGM Sales Convention in 1937, a case that was the subject of David Stenn's 2007 documentary film Girl 27.

Fitts was elected to a third term as district attorney in 1936 and remained until 1940, when he was defeated by a reform candidate, John F. Dockweiler. Fitts, J.D. Fredericks (1903–1915), and Steve Cooley (2000-2012) are the only Los Angeles County District Attorneys to serve three complete terms.

Fitts with his car after being shot at

On March 7, 1937, Fitts was wounded by a volley of shots fired through the windshield of his car. Nobody was ever arrested in that case.

He joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 with the rank of major. He was chief, intelligence, Pacific Overseas Air Technical Services.

Death

Fitts' last residence was in Three Rivers, in Tulare County, California, where he killed himself by a pistol shot to the head on March 29, 1973, one week after his 78th birthday.

References

• For the People — Inside the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office 1850-2000 (2001) by Michael Parrish. ISBN 1-883318-15-7
• He Usually Lived With a Female: The Life of a California Newspaperman (2006) by George Garrigues. Quail Creek Press. ISBN 0-9634830-1-3
• Deadly Illusions by Samuel Marx and Joyce Vanderveen (Random House, New York, 1990), re-published as Murder Hollywood Style - Who Killed Jean Harlow's Husband? (Arrow, 1994, ISBN 0-09-961060-4)

External links

• For the People excerpt quoted in Los Angeles District Attorney Web site
• Social Security Death Index
• University of California biography