With a life-long love of history, law and teaching, Hintz informed and entertained generations of future lawyers, police officers and judges during the many courses he taught at the McGeorge College of Law, California Lutheran University, Saddleback College, Moorpark College, Ventura College, the Ventura County Sheriff’s Academy and the Center for Judicial Education and Research. Hintz was also a faculty member of the Ventura College of Law from 1985 to 2004, where he taught Constitutional Law and Criminal Procedure, as well as the History of the U.S. Supreme Court.Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota in 1947, Hintz is the son of an Army artillery officer who saw combat in the Pacific during World War II and in the Korean War. Moving around the U.S. from one Army base to another in the post-war years, Hintz graduated from high school in Oklahoma in 1964 before heading to San Diego State, where he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in 1968.Hintz is a life member of the U.S. Naval Institute, the National Rifle Association, the Navy League, and the California State Rail Museum Foundation. He currently serves on the Rail Museum Foundation’s board of directors, and is also the Foundation’s chief financial officer.Hintz is looking forward to continuing his public service in leadership positions in education, private charities, and government. Judge Hintz is married and has two children.
Retirement of Superior Court Judge Steven Hintz
July 04, 2007
Santa Paula News
One of the longest-serving judges in Ventura County announced his retirement, calling a final recess in a courtroom career spanning more than 35 years as a member of the bench and bar.
One of the longest-serving judges in Ventura County announced his retirement, calling a final recess in a courtroom career spanning more than 35 years as a member of the bench and bar. Superior Court Judge Steven Hintz officially retired Monday, June 25, 25 years after being appointed by Governor Edmund G. Brown Jr. to a seat on the Municipal Court in 1982.Hintz, a 1971 graduate of U.C. Berkeley’s Boalt Hall School of Law, spent his first four years as a lawyer serving in the Navy’s Judge Advocate General’s Corps. Lieutenant Hintz served as both a prosecutor and a defense attorney – but not at the same time – in court-martials for sailors and Marines charged with violating the Uniform Code of Military Justice.Released from active duty in 1975, Hintz joined the Ventura County District Attorney’s Office, where he soon found himself cross-examining defendants and delivering closing arguments in a variety of criminal cases. Hintz developed an expertise in arson prosecutions, writing two authoritative guides to investigating and prosecuting arsonists. He moved into management after a short time, supervising the Juvenile and Misdemeanor units for two years, before receiving word in 1982 that the governor had appointed him to Municipal Court.Quickly earning the respect of the local legal community in his new role, the Trial Lawyers Association of Ventura County named Hintz the “Judge of the Year” in 1984 and 1988.He was reelected by voters to the Municipal Court three times; in recognition of his management skills, he fellow judges chose him to be the Assistant Presiding Judge of the Municipal Court in 1987, and the following year tapped him to be the Presiding Judge. Hintz joined the Superior Court in 1998, where he won yet another term in 2002.
