# Buron Fitts

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 as 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 prominent 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 his right knee during the Battle of Argonne in 1918, and after ten years of surgeries he was forced to have his leg amputated.

## Career

Fitts was appointed deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County in 1920, during the term of district attorney Thomas Lee Woolwine, and chief deputy in 1924 under Asa Keyes. Fitts was elected lieutenant governor in 1926 and served in the administration of Governor C.C. Young, from January 4, 1927, until his resignation on November 30, 1928. Governor Young appointed H. L. Carnahan as lieutenant governor to succeed Fitts on December 4, 1928.
In 1928, Keyes was indicted for bribery (in connection with the Julian Petroleum Company scandal). Fitts resigned as lieutenant governor both to become a special prosecutor in that case and to become district attorney of Los Angeles County. He was elected to that office on November 6, 1928.
Fitts was also on the payroll of Paramount Pictures. In 1930, actress Clara Bow's fiancé, Rex Bell, wrongfully accused Daisy De Voe, Bow's secretary, of embezzlement and extortion. Fitts saw to it that De Voe was arrested, not allowed to contact a lawyer, interrogated for twenty-seven straight hours and jailed without being charged. Her safe deposit box was searched without a warrant. No evidence was found, and De Voe refused to sign a confession.
She subsequently filed a false imprisonment suit against Fitts and, in retaliation, he induced a grand jury to indict her on thirty-five counts of grand theft. After three days of deliberations, the jury found De Voe not guilty on thirty-four charges, but, inexplicably, guilty on one. She served an 18-month sentence. The judge also was friendly with Paramount executives.
In 1930, Fitts ran for the Republican nomination for Governor of California, finishing third in the primary behind incumbent Governor Young and the winner, San Francisco Mayor James Rolph.
Fitts was elected to a second term as district attorney in 1932, and investigated the death of Hollywood producer-director-screenwriter Paul Bern, husband of actress Jean Harlow. Samuel Marx, in his book Deadly Illusions (1990), accused Fitts of having been bribed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) studio executives to accept Bern's death as suicide, to avoid a scandal. He has also been accused of using his position to block action against the rapist of Patricia Douglas at an MGM Sales Convention in 1937, a case that was the subject of David Stenn's 2007 documentary film Girl 27.
Fitts was indicted for bribery and perjury in 1934 for allegedly taking a bribe to drop a statutory rape charge against a millionaire real-estate promoter, but was acquitted two years later.
Despite all the lurid scandals, Fitts was elected to a third term as district attorney in 1936. On March 7, 1937, he was wounded by a volley of shots fired through the windshield of his car. No one was ever arrested for the apparent assassination attempt.
In 1940, Fitts was defeated in his bid for a fourth term as district attorney by a reform candidate, former U.S. Representative John F. Dockweiler. Fitts, John D. Fredericks (1903–1915), and Steve Cooley (2000-2012) are the only Los Angeles County district attorneys to serve three complete terms.
In 1942, during World War II, Fitts joined the Army Air Corps with the rank of major. He was chief intelligence officer for Pacific Overseas Air Technical Services.

## Death

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