Early life and education Browning was born in
Globe, Arizona. He completed his undergraduate studies at
California State University, Fresno, and his law degree at
University of California, Hastings College of the Law.
Career Browning was a deputy district attorney for
San Mateo County at the time he was appointed by President Nixon to succeed
Cecil F. Poole as
United States Attorney for the Northern District of California. He served in that position from 1969 to 1977. Notable events Browning was involved in include negotiation and consultation during the
occupation of Alcatraz, consultation on whether a statement
Groucho Marx made in a magazine interview constituted a
threat to the President of the United States, and as a prosecutor in the trial of
Patty Hearst, squaring off against defense counsel
F. Lee Bailey. In 1978, he filed to run for
California Attorney General, but lost the Republican nomination to
George Deukmejian. Browning later served as a municipal court judge in San Mateo County, California. In 1990, he was appointed to
superior court judge by governor George Deukmejian. He died of complications from a fall in the Tucson suburb of
Oro Valley, Arizona, at the age of 83. ==References==