Millard Named Presiding Judge of Superior Court

Judge Theodore E. Millard was selected presiding judge of the Orange County Superior Court on Friday.

Millard, who was first elected to the Superior Court bench in 1978, was the unanimous choice of the court’s five-member executive committee. He will serve a one-year term beginning Jan. 1, 1996.

Millard has presided over a number of high-profile cases in Orange County during his time on the bench, including the two trials of Dr. Thomas A. Gionis, who was accused of ordering an attack on his ex-wife, Aissa Wayne, daughter of the late actor John Wayne; and the trial of convicted murderer Maria Alfaro, who became the first woman from Orange County to be sentenced to death.

Millard was reelected to six-year terms to the court in 1984 and 1990. He has been assistant presiding judge of the court for the past three years.

Before his election to the Superior Court, Millard was a deputy district attorney for 11 years with the Orange County district attorney’s office. Before that, he practiced law privately in Santa Ana and was a certified criminal law specialist.

The judge has been an Orange County resident since 1942 and graduated from Santa Ana High School. Millard lives in Orange with his wife, Sondra. They have three children and two grandchildren.