Active Trial judge
Superior Court of California, County of San Diego
California · San Diego
Overview
Official judge-specific and circuitwide procedural guidance has been located for this profile.
Background
No education history is documented in this source.
No nonjudicial career history is documented in this source.
Source: CourtListener / Free Law Project public biographical data. Demographic and political labels are incomplete, source-attributed, and are not used to infer judicial behavior. “Via appointer” describes CourtListener’s attribution method, not verified personal party membership.
Before you appear
Read the judge-specific standing order first when one is listed.
Check the docket and case orders for requirements that supersede broader guidance.
Confirm current remote-access and courtroom technology arrangements before the proceeding.
Judge-specific guidance is shown first. Broader applicable courtroom, courtwide, districtwide, and statewide guidance remains separately labeled below it.
Presentation rules
Judge Smyth prefers the court's trial copy of exhibits on a thumb drive when possible; opening-statement exhibits and demonstratives must also be disclosed to opposing counsel in advance.
Judge Smyth prefers that his copy of the exhibits for use during the trial be provided on a thumb drive if possible.
The requirement is stated in an official standing order naming this judge.
For San Diego remote hearings, the clerk must grant permission before a participant can share exhibits or information from a computer screen.
If you are expecting to need to share exhibits or information from your own computer screen during a hearing, please be familiar with how to show your screen in a Teams meeting. The clerk will need to grant permission for you to be able to share your screen.
The requirement is stated in current official court rules and is attached at court scope, not as a personal preference.
Unless the assigned judge orders otherwise, evidence for a civil trial with a remote participant must be submitted to the court and served at least five court days before trial.
parties appearing remotely must submit and serve all evidence to the court at least five court days prior to the scheduled trial date
The requirement is stated in current official court rules and is attached at court scope, not as a personal preference.
E-filed exhibits must be bookmarked to each exhibit, identified by number or letter and description, and submitted as text-searchable PDF files.
E-filed documents that contain exhibits must include electronic bookmarks with links to the first page of each exhibit and titles that identify the exhibit number or letter and briefly describe the exhibit.
The requirement is stated in current official court rules and is attached at court scope, not as a personal preference.
Absent court permission, media storage devices cannot be attached as exhibits to motions or pleadings; the media must be lodged instead.
Absent leave of court, the court will not accept for filing any media storage device, such as a Compact Disc (CD), Digital Video Disc (DVD), or flash drive, that is attached as an exhibit to a motion or pleading.
The requirement is stated in current official court rules and is attached at court scope, not as a personal preference.
To obtain pre-hearing review of an audio or video recording, the party must lodge the recording and file a transcript of the relevant portions as an exhibit.
Lodge the recording and file a transcript of the relevant portions sought to be considered by the court as an exhibit.
The requirement is stated in current official court rules and is attached at court scope, not as a personal preference.
A party offering an electronic sound or sound-and-video recording must provide the court and opposing parties a transcript and provide opposing parties a duplicate of the recording.
the party must provide to the court and to opposing parties a transcript of the electronic recording and provide opposing parties with a duplicate of the electronic recording
The requirement is stated in an official statewide source and is attached as applicable guidance, not as a personal preference.
California courts should permit remote participation in covered civil proceedings, subject to the statute, local rules, and controlling orders.
courts should permit parties to appear remotely at conferences, hearings, and proceedings in civil cases consistent with Code of Civil Procedure section 367.75
The requirement is stated in an official statewide source and is attached as applicable guidance, not as a personal preference.
Covered civil parties and witnesses may appear remotely, and the court may conduct proceedings in whole or in part using remote technology.
that party or witness may appear remotely and the court may conduct conferences, hearings, and proceedings, in whole or in part, through the use of remote technology
The requirement is stated in an official statewide source and is attached as applicable guidance, not as a personal preference.
Court proceedings may not be photographed, recorded, or broadcast except as Rule 1.150 permits.
Except as provided in this rule, court proceedings may not be photographed, recorded, or broadcast.
The requirement is stated in an official statewide source and is attached as applicable guidance, not as a personal preference.
In expedited jury trials, parties may use slides, electronic presentations, projections, exhibit notebooks, and other methods approved at the pretrial conference.
the parties may present summaries and may use photographs, diagrams, slides, electronic presentations, overhead projections, individual notebooks of exhibits for submission to the jurors, or other innovative methods of presentation approved at the pretrial conference
The requirement is stated in an official statewide source and is attached as applicable guidance, not as a personal preference.
Voluntary expedited jury trial submissions must identify party agreements concerning electronic presentations and other proposed presentation methods.
Any agreements of the parties to use photographs, diagrams, slides, electronic presentations, overhead projections, notebooks of exhibits, or other methods of presenting information to the jury
The requirement is stated in an official statewide source and is attached as applicable guidance, not as a personal preference.
An exhibit must be admitted by the judge before it may be used in the case.
The judge must to allow you to admit the exhibit as evidence in order for you to use it in your case.
The requirement is stated in an official statewide source and is attached as applicable guidance, not as a personal preference.
Courtroom technology
Technology availability is separate from procedural permission and evidentiary admissibility.
Published opinion footprint
This does not mean the judge has no published opinions or no caseload. KYJ will only show opinion counts after transparent, source-linked CourtListener matching is available.
Sources
Identity source · HTML · retrieved July 28, 2026
https://www.sandiego.courts.ca.gov/portal/about/judges_s.htmlIdentity source · HTML · retrieved July 29, 2026
https://www.courtlistener.com/person/13056/michael-t-smyth/Courtwide · PDF · retrieved July 28, 2026
https://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/sites/default/files/sdcourt/generalinformation/localrulesofcourt/division_ii_-_civil_2026.pdfCourtwide · HTML · retrieved July 28, 2026
https://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/sdcourt/generalinformation/localrulesofcourt/rocdepartmentrulesStatewide · HTML · retrieved July 26, 2026
https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/two/rule2_1040Statewide · HTML · retrieved July 26, 2026
https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/three/rule3_672Statewide · HTML · retrieved July 26, 2026
https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displaySection.xhtml?sectionNum=367.75.&lawCode=CCPStatewide · HTML · retrieved July 26, 2026
https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/one/rule1_150Statewide · HTML · retrieved July 26, 2026
https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/three/rule3_1551Statewide · HTML · retrieved July 26, 2026
https://courts.ca.gov/cms/rules/index/three/rule3_1548Statewide · HTML · retrieved July 26, 2026
https://selfhelp.courts.ca.gov/how-introduce-exhibits-trialCourtwide · HTML · retrieved July 26, 2026
https://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/virtualhearingsCourtwide · PDF · retrieved July 28, 2026
https://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/sites/default/files/sdcourt/generalinformation/localrulesofcourt/division_ii_-_civil_2026.pdfJudge-specific · PDF · retrieved July 28, 2026
https://www.sdcourt.ca.gov/sites/default/files/sdcourt/generalinformation/localrulesofcourt/rocdepartmentrules/department67/department_67_rules_and_procedures.pdfChange history
Identity imported from Superior Court of California, County of San Diego. 13 presentation-related claims migrated with source provenance.