CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
August 29, 2011 | By Claire Noland, Los Angeles Times
Judge David G. Sills, presiding justice of California's 4th District Court of Appeal in Santa Ana who made significant rulings regarding surrogate parents, died Tuesday after a long illness, the court announced. He was 73. Sills was appointed presiding judge of the appellate court's 3rd Division in 1990 by then-Gov. George Deukmejian and served for more than 20 years. In that role the judge led reviews of civil and criminal decisions handed down by Orange County Superior Court. Known as a consensus builder and a gifted writer, he was the author of more than 2,400 majority opinions during his tenure at the busy court.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
January 29, 1993
Citing jury misconduct, an appellate court Thursday overturned the 1991 conviction of a San Juan Capistrano man on 12 felony counts of sexually molesting his two young daughters. The 4th District Court of Appeal ruled, 2 to 1, to order a new trial for Rafael Chavez Tena, 38, after it was learned that juror Margaret Jones improperly tried to sway jurors to convict Tena and did not notify the judge that she knew two other girls who had been sexually molested.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
December 7, 1990
Orange County Municipal Court Judge John M. Watson will be elevated to the Superior Court, the governor's office announced Thursday. Watson, 46, of Huntington Beach was a Los Angeles County prosecutor for 19 years. He was appointed last year by Gov. George Deukmejian to Harbor Judicial District Municipal Court in Newport Beach. Watson will replace Judge David G. Sills, who was recently named to the 4th District Court of Appeal.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
September 18, 1988
Arraignment is scheduled for Friday for former Irvine City Councilman C. David Baker, who is charged with forging the signature of an Orange County Superior Court judge on a $48,000 check written on the account of a local nonprofit foundation that Baker headed at the time. Baker allegedly wrote the check to himself June 2, during the final days of his unsuccessful bid for the Republican nomination in the 40th Congressional District, and signed it with Judge David G.
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
October 19, 1992
The nonprofit Irvine Health Foundation, which makes grants to health-related agencies in Orange County, has appointed University of California President Jack W. Peltason to its board of directors. Peltason, who became UC Irvine chancellor in 1984, became president of the nine-campus UC system on Oct. 1. He joins David G. Sills, presiding justice of the 4th District Court of Appeal, as one of the board's prominent members.