Sh*t Happens By Mail Delivery

A complaint filed by Ohio Disciplinary Counsel involves a criminal conviction on charges that began with allegations that an attorney had sent three “suspicious” letters to members of the Ohio Senate.

The letters were opened by a postal inspector, who found human feces and the words “racist” and “pig” written on enclosed paper.

Additional letters were received two days later, forwarded by the Senate Sergeant-at-Arms.

The investigation led to Respondent, who had been fired from a position as a mediator for the Portage County Court of Common Pleas and had blamed the apparent sender because her spouse had declined to represent him in a civil action.

Surveillance detected Respondent mailing additional feces and a one dollar bill.

He pled guilty to seven federal charges and sentenced to two years of probation.

Cleveland.com reported

A former court attorney who mailed some three dozen letters smeared with human feces to Republican politicians apologized Monday and said he acted out of “blind anger and frustration” at the state of the country.

Richard Steinle, 79, told a federal magistrate judge during a hearing that he sent the letters out of “frustration and rage.“ He was sentenced to two years on probation and ordered to pay a $9,500, the maximum fine under federal law.

“I take full responsibility for my vile and repulsive actions,” Steinle said.

U.S. District Magistrate Judge Jennifer Dowdell Armstrong handed down the sentence in a case that drew nationwide attention after the letters began popping up at elected officials’ offices, particularly in the Ohio Statehouse.

From August 2021 through July 29, 2022, Steinle sent letters to U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, all 25 Republicans in the Ohio Senate, to federal judges in California and elected officials in Washington, D.C., and Kentucky. The letters typically contained notes calling the politicians “racist” or “pig.”

U.S. Postal Service inspectors investigating the case stopped three letters from being sent from the Lakemore Post Office near Akron to elected officials in Columbus.

Steinle previously pleaded guilty to seven counts of sending injurious materials through the mail.

Query: what is it with Ohio lawyers and feces? (Mike Frisch)