OPPEN, James

James J. Oppen

Chronic Bitcher

OPPEN, James (1920-1979)[SS#550-09-7858], Santa Barbara attorney who allegedly shot himself aboard his yacht, Chronic Bitcher, at Santa Cruz Island on August 21, 1979. In an odd story, Oppen placed a distress call from his vessel to the Coast Guard, claiming 3 heavily-armed men from a fishing boat had boarded his boat and kidnapped him. He yelled "I've been shot", and the transmission ended. Two Coast Guard cutters, two utility boats and a helicopter searched but failed to find him. The next morning, his 41-foot cabin cruiser was found at Scorpion Harbor, adrift with its engine idling. Oppen was onboard alone, dead of a gunshot wound.

In the News~

August 22, 1979 [LAT]: “A Santa Barbara attorney has been found shot to death on board his cabin cruiser drifting near Santa Cruz Island hours after he sent out a distress call that he was being attacked. Gunshots were heard during the radioed distress call made Tuesday evening by attorney James Oppen, 58, of Goleta, according to a Coast Guard spokesman. The spokesman said Oppen sent out the call from his 41-foot cabin cruiser, the Chronic Bitcher, "reporting that he was being attacked and they were trying to kill him." A Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department spokesman gave a slightly different version of the distress call, saying Oppen reported that he had been kidnapped and was being tortured. Today sheriff's investigators said it appeared that Oppen killed himself while broadcasting a fake distress call. They said evidence indicated that several shots were fired but all from inside the boat. Oppen was shot once in the head. Several weapons were found in the boat. The Coast Guard sent cutters and a helicopter to search the Channel Islands area when the gunshots were heard and Oppen reportedly said he had been shot. "At 5:40 p.m.," said Coast Guard Petty Officer Joseph davis, "gunshots were heard, and the voice of the distressed man said he had been shot." The Chronic Bitcher was spotted later Wednesday night by helicopter with Oppen's body lying on the stern deck, according to officials, who said no one else was on board. Sheriff's officers, flown to the scene by the Coast Guard, ordered the vessel towed into Santa Barbara Harbor. Results of an autopsy of Oppen's body were expected today. Oppen, who is survived by his wife, Marilyn, and twin daughters, has been retired from the practice of law for a couple of years. He was best known for a suit he brought on behalf of commercial fishermen against oil companies after the famous 1969 oil spill in the Santa Barbara Channel. Oppen's boat was named the Chronic Bitcher because an oil company official in the aftermath of the oil spill referred to Santa Barbara as a "community of chronic bitchers."”

August 23, 1979 [LAT]: “Lawyer found dead on boat after distress call. Santa Barbara—A flamboyant Santa Barbara attorney, found shot to death at sea on his cabin cruiser after radioing a distress call that he was being attacked, probably committed suicide, sources close to the investigation said Wednesday. The strange death of James J. Oppen occurred near Santa Cruz Island Tuesday evening after he sent a gun-shot-punctated distress call from his 41-foot boat, the Chronic Btcher. A Coast Guard spokesman said a radio call was picked up from Oppen "reporting that he was being attacked and they were trying to kill him." "At 5:40 p.m.," Petty Officer Joseph Davis said, "gunshots were heard and the voice of the distressed man said he had been shot." A Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department spokesman reported that Oppen at one point radioed that he had been kidnapped and was being tortured. A Coast Guard helicopter, sent with a number of surface vessels as soon as the call was received, spotted the Chronic Bitcher in Scorpion's Anchorage at Santa Cruz Island at 6:40 p.m. The inboard motor was still running and Oppen lay dead on the stern deck. He was 58. Oppen died of a single gunshot to the base of the neck, according to sheriff's officials who said several weapons were found aboard the boat. Officials were saying publicly that the death was a "possible suicide," but sources close to the investigation said officers were certain the gunshot was self-inflicted. Before moving to Santa Barbara, Oppen led a colorful life as a policeman and then as an attorney in the Los Angeles area, where he once sued the Pacific Telephone and Telegraph Co. in an attempt to prevent conversion to all-digit dialing. After suing oil companies on behalf of Santa Barbara fishermen after the 1969 oil spill, Oppen named his boat the Chronic Bitcher because an oil company official called Santa Barbara a "community of chronic bitchers." Oppen retired from practice in 1977 and reportedly was in poor health.”

August 30, 1979 [Santa Ynez Valley News]: “Murder suspected in SB author's death. Funeral services for James J. Oppen, 58, found dead on his boat from a gunshot wound Tuesday night, Aug. 21, were held Saturday in Santa Barbara. The Santa Barbara sheriff's office is still awaiting full autopsy reports to determine if Oppen's death was murder or suicide. Oppen had a Masonic funeral with a service by the Latter Day Saints, a church to which he and his twin 17-year-old daughters belonged. Oppen was found dead on the stern of his 45-foot Chris Craft off Santa Cruz Island Tuesday night after the Coast Guard and nearby boats received mayday calls that someone was trying to kill him, peppered with what appeared to be gunshots. Oppen's wife, Marilyn, said "he didn't believe in suicide." and was awaiting word from a publisher on a novel he has written about the Santa Barbara oil spill of 1969, which he was heavily involved in for seven years to get damages for fishermen and others from the oil companies. Although the book is in fictional form, Mrs. Oppen said judges and lawyers names are given but other names were fictionalized. Tentatively called "The Rape of Santa Barbara" the novel deals with facts surrounding the oil spill and resultant suits in a fiction form. "He took the most interesting cases and told how the people were affected, Mrs. Oppen related.”