State Panel Says Judge Abused His Authority : Courts: Steven Hintz is rebuked for a search of spectators and letting prosecutor sit on jury. He apologizes.

A Ventura County judge who ordered courtroom spectators locked into his courtroom and searched for weapons in 1990 suffered a stinging slap Friday from the California Commission on Judicial Performance, which said he abused his authority.

The watchdog panel issued a letter of reproval against Municipal Court Judge Steven Hintz, who drew widespread criticism 19 months ago for the search and for letting a prosecutor serve on a jury in a drug case.

Hintz, a former prosecutor who has served on the Municipal Court bench since 1982, responded to the rebuke in a statement apologizing for his handling of the search, the drug case and another case that were all cited in the letter of reproval.

“I tender this public apology to all the citizens of Ventura County and to any person whom I have offended in these incidents,” Hintz’s statement said. “I hope this resolution will enable me to continue to enjoy the confidence of the litigants in the Ventura County courts.”

He declined further comment.

Commission Associate Counsel Cythia Dorfman said the letter of reproval could not have been published without Hintz’s consent. She also said Hintz avoided more serious action by the commission, which could have asked the Supreme Court to censure him or remove him from the bench if his actions had been more improper.

“I’m sure he’s relieved it’s behind him,” Presiding Municipal Court Judge Bruce A. Clark said. He said Hintz is moving from jury trials to criminal arraignments Monday on the normal rotation that affects all judges.

Clark proclaimed “the utmost confidence” in Hintz, who is only the sixth California judge to be reproved by the commission since it was empowered to do so by a 1988 amendment to the state Constitution.

“He’s a very able, very capable judge,” said Clark, who, ironically, was the first judge to be reproved. The commission criticized Clark in 1989 for dismissing two traffic tickets against the daughter of Assemblywoman Cathie Wright (R-Simi Valley).

The commission’s letter of reproval against Hintz cited these cases:

* Hintz abused his authority on Nov. 15, 1990, by ordering bailiffs to lock people into his courtroom, search them for weapons and check them for outstanding arrest warrants. “These actions exceeded Judge Hintz’s lawful authority and violated the citizens’ constitutional rights,” the commission found.

* Hintz improperly criticized jurors for their verdict in a July, 1990, criminal trial. He also improperly held the jurors after their verdict and made them sit through a separate hearing that “appeared punitive of the jury and calculated to humiliate the defendant,” the commission found.

* After Hintz allowed a prosecutor to serve on a jury at the request of the defendant in July, 1990, the jury convicted the man of heroin intoxication. The prosecution and defense asked for a new trial because the prosecutor served as foreman of the jury, which convicted the man in 15 minutes. When the lawyers refused Hintz’s request to say in legal papers that he “committed no error or ethical breach in the trial,” Hintz ordered a new trial on grounds of “prosecutorial misconduct.”

The commission found that Hintz’s attempt to shift blame for his own actions to the prosecution “constituted improper use of the judicial office for personal use.”

Veteran defense attorneys said Friday they still admire Hintz’s work as a judge, one of them saying that Hintz showed compassion and human qualities that the heavy Municipal Court caseload has long since burned out of other judges.

“Judge Hintz is a very human judge,” said Charles Cassy, who said he has practiced before the judge numerous times. “He’s not cold. He’s warm. He’s receptive. He has empathy . . . I’ve never had anything but good experiences with him.”

But Cassy said of Hintz’s forced search and warrant check, “Dumb move. Dumb move.”

Longtime defense attorney George C. Eskin said, “I have the highest regard for Judge Hintz as a judge.”

Eskin said he was offended by the search, but said it was approved of by then-Presiding Judge Lee E. Cooper Jr.

As for the drug case, Eskin said, “I do not think he was the culprit. . . . He was put in a no-win situation” because the prosecutor was approved as a member of the jury by the case prosecutor and by the defendant who was representing himself, Eskin said.

The district attorney’s office may ask to have Hintz disqualified from cases a little more frequently than other judges “because of conduct like this,” Chief Deputy Dist. Atty. Vincent J. O’Neill Jr. said. “But for the most part, the routine cases will not be any different.”