3 Municipal Judges Named to County Superior Court

Gov. George Deukmejian on Friday promoted three Municipal Court judges, including outspoken and controversial Vista Judge Runston G. (Tony) Maino, to the San Diego County Superior Court.

Also elevated to the Superior Court were El Cajon Municipal Court Judge Robert E. May and San Diego Municipal Court Judge Charles R. Hayes.

Maino, who was originally appointed to the bench by former Gov. Edmund G. Brown Jr. and is now presiding judge of the North County Municipal Court, has been criticized in the past by prosecutors for his handling of drunk driving cases.

In 1984, San Diego County Dist. Atty. Edwin Miller ordered his deputies to challenge Maino every time he was assigned to hear a drunk-driving case, thereby ensuring that no such cases would go to Maino’s court.

Miller took the action after Maino dismissed a drunk-driving charge against a man who was driving while legally drunk under state law. Maino also dismissed more than 100 drunk-driving cases on grounds that the district attorney had failed to file them within a 25-day time limit.

In a rare public exchange between a judge and prosecutors, Maino responded by going to the media to criticize Miller and his deputies for failing to pursue serious criminal cases aggressively.

“I think in this particular case I’ve turned all four of my cheeks,” Maino told the San Diego Trial Lawyers Assn. before blasting Miller.

Maino, 47, of Fallbrook, is a graduate of UC Berkeley and has a law degree from the University of San Francisco. He was a deputy in the district attorney’s office from 1969 until 1982.

Neither Maino nor Miller could be reached for comment Friday.

May, 47, of Bonita, was appointed to the Municipal Court by Deukmejian in 1986.

He is a graduate of the University of Florida and has a law degree from the University of San Diego. May was a deputy district attorney from 1970 until 1974, when he left to join a private practice. He later worked for three years as an assistant U.S. attorney before being appointed to the Municipal Court.

Hayes, 43, of Poway, was also appointed to the Municipal Court by Deukmejian in 1986.

Hayes, a graduate of Occidental College and the California Western law school, was a deputy district attorney for 16 years. He supervised the office’s Fraud Division for seven years and, during 1985 and 1986, served as chief deputy district attorney.

The salary for Superior Court judges is $81,505.

The three judges Deukmejian appointed Friday will fill newly created positions. Their Municipal Court posts will be filled by Deukmejian in separate appointments.