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 term as lieutenant governor of California: January 4, 1927 to November 30, 1928. Governor Young appointed H. L. Carnahan, lieutenant governor on December 4, 1928, vice Buron Fitts, resigned.
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 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 MGM 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 in two years later.
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. Fredricks (1903â1915), and Steve Cooley (2000-2012) are only Los Angeles County District Attorneys to serve three complete terms.
Credit- ACME and NEA Photo measures 9 x 7.25 inches.
Photo is dated --1934
Photo back:
