Patty's Prosecutor

Down by the bay, San Francisco's Marina Green was filled with people shaking off the damp of the past few rainy weeks. There were joggers, dog walkers, Frisbee flingers and one lanky gentleman intently reading on the grass. No one bothered to peer over his shoulder. And that was just as well. James Louis Browning Jr., 42, the U.S. Attorney prosecuting both Sara Jane Moore and Patty Hearst, was studying a document recovered from the house where Patty was captured. Why bring such sensitive reading to the park? "Well, I wanted to get some sun," said Browning. "I haven't got much recently."

Jim Browning is unlikely to get much of a suntan as he juggles the two most important cases of his 14-year career as a prosecutor. The first of these --the charge that Hearst was a willing participant in the Symbionese Liberation Army bank robbery in San Francisco--brought Browning into court last week against famed Defense Lawyer F. Lee Bailey. It was an encounter to whet courthouse appetites. "Browning versus Bailey?" remarked a San Francisco attorney. "The only question is what school Patty will enroll in next year. Bailey will eat him up."

First Round. In his light purple suit, Browning proved at least a sartorial match for Bailey (in a blue pinstripe). And as the two sparred cordially over three psychiatric reports from court-appointed experts, Browning easily held his own. Bailey emphasized that one report said Patty had experienced "traumatic neurosis" and was suffering a "diminished ability" to cooperate with her attorneys. Even so, Browning countered, the report did not find Patty mentally incompetent. After three days of reflection, Judge Oliver Carter ruled that Patty was indeed competent and ordered her arraigned this week.

So, despite predictions, the first round went to Browning, who has not tried a case since he became U.S. Attorney more than five years ago. "I don't think you forget how to try cases," he says of his detractors. "It's not like being an athlete where your muscles get flabby after five years."

Twelve-Hour Days. Browning says he has wanted to be a lawyer since he was six. At San Francisco's Hastings College of Law, he stood near the top of his class for the first year, then spent his final two years trying to keep academically afloat while he worked in a local law firm. After a stint as a tax editor for a legal publishing firm, he joined the San Mateo County district attorney's office in 1961. As chief trial deputy, Browning prosecuted 189 cases ranging from robbery to murder. In 1970, he was appointed U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of California.

Critics denigrate Browning's work as a federal prosecutor because he has not tried any major cases. Much of his time has been spent prosecuting hundreds of draft evaders and a few black radicals. Browning answers that there have not been any very dramatic crimes, and anyway his role is primarily administrative. To prepare for Patty Hearst, though, he has been forcing himself and his staff through twelve-hour days devoted to the study of thousands of pages of S.L.A. and FBI documents.

Prosecutors are expected to argue that Patty willingly took part in the bank job, a contention she herself supported in a taped message after the raid. Bailey has already said that he will try to prove that Patty was under duress. But his opponent remains confident. "Sure there's pressure in this case," says Browning. "But U.S. Attorneys can't really make it or break it on any one case, unless they really screw it up. And that's not going to happen."

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