Resignation Accepted
The Ohio Supreme Court has accepted the resignation of an attorney who had gained notoriety for sending feces-smeared mail to politicians
2024-1778. In re Resignation of Steinle.
On application for retirement or resignation of Richard John Steinle, Attorney Registration No. 0030785, last known business address in Mogadore, Ohio. Application accepted as resignation with disciplinary action pending. Brunner, J., not participating.
Cleveland.com reported on the conduct
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.
In several decades as an attorney, Steinle worked for the 5th Ohio District Court of Appeals and later launched and ran mediation programs in Summit and Portage county courts.
He was fired in 2017 from Portage County Common Pleas Court. He alleged in a lawsuit that he was retaliated against after he wrote a letter to the editor published on cleveland.com that criticized Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine and the Ohio Bureau of Workers’ Compensation.
Steinle said he’s a veteran who served in the Vietnam War. He said he protested the war with other veterans upon returning home, launching five decades of interest in politics.