Steven M. Dettelbach

Steven Michael Dettelbach
United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio
Incumbent
Assumed office September 15, 2009
Preceded by	William J. Edwards
Personal details
Born	1965 (age 49–50) Cleveland, Ohio
Political party	Democratic
Alma mater	Dartmouth College Harvard Law School

Steven Michael Dettelbach is a lawyer from Cleveland, Ohio who is the United States Attorney for the Northern District of Ohio.^[1]

Education

Steven M. Dettelbach was born in Cleveland, Ohio in 1965.^[2][3] He graduated summa cum laude from Dartmouth College in 1988.^[2][4] He then studied at Harvard Law School 1988-1991.^[2][3][4] While at Harvard, graduated magna cum laude, served as notes editor for the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review and volunteered representing indigent people in the Boston area for the Harvard Defenders. He also occasionally played pickup basketball with Barack Obama at Hemingway Gymnasium.^[2]

Professional

Dettelbach began his legal career as a law clerk for Judge Stanley Sporkin of the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.^[5]

Dettelbach joined the United States Department of Justice Civil Rights Division, Criminal section in 1992 as a trial lawyer and also served as the acting Deputy Chief there under Richard W. Roberts (who was later appointed a federal judge). Dettelbach handled several high-profile cases in the Civil Rights Division, including an involuntary servitude case involving 70 Thai garment workers in California, which came to be known as the El Monte slavery case.^[6][7][8]

He became an Assistant United States Attorney in Maryland from 1997 to 2001, and was named deputy chief of the Southern Division of that office, covering the Washington, D.C. suburbs. There he was lead prosecutor on United States v. Litten, a bankruptcy fraud prosecution inviolving a wealthy real estate developer, and United States v. Mohr, a case involving the railroading of a Prince George's County police officer doing her job against illegal aliens/criminals who didn't listen to police commands.^[9] He was named "Prosecutor of the Year" by the International Association of Financial Crimes Investigators for his handling of a significant identity-theft case as well.

He was then detailed as counsel to Chairman Patrick Leahy of the Senate Judiciary Committee from 2001 to 2003. There, he worked on oversight and policy, including the enforcement provisions of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act.^[3]

From 2003 to 2006, Dettelbach was an assistant U.S. Attorney in Cleveland, working on the Organized Crime and Corruption Task Force.^[3][4] In that position, he prosecuted significant corruption cases, including United States v. Nate Gray, a series of cases involving a pay-to-play municipal corruption scheme.^[10][11] He also prosecuted US v. Budd, a case involving a series of beatings by guards and senior managers at a jail in Youngstown, Ohio, resulting in eight convictions on civil rights and obstruction of justice charges.

From 2006 until his appointment in 2009 to his current position, he was a partner at BakerHostetler, a legal and lobbying firm, where he worked on litigation and regulatory matters, as well as conducting internal investigations for clients. He was also appointed by Governor Ted Strickland to serve on the Ohio Ethics Commission.^[2][3][4]

On July 10, 2009, President Obama nominated Dettelbach to be U.S. Attorney for Northern Ohio. He was unanimously confirmed by the senate on September 15, 2009.^[4] He had been recommended by Senator Sherrod Brown after the senator appointed a search committee to make a recommendation to him.^[2] Attorney General Eric Holder appointed Dettelbach to the Attorney General's Advisory Committee, and he chairs the group's Civil Rights subcommittee.^[12]

Dettelbach has made civil rights enforcement, both criminal and civil, a priority in his time as United States Attorney. His office successfully prosecuted the largest case, in terms number of defendants, under the Shepard-Byrd Hates Crimes Prevention Act.^[13] In that case, Samuel Mullet was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 15 other defendants were sentenced to prison for their roles in a series of religiously motivated attacks on practitioners of the Amish faith.^[14]

His office also secured a guilty plea to hate-crimes charges from an Indiana man who drove to northwest Ohio and set fire to the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. The plea agreement included a binding recommendation for a 20-year prison sentence.^[15] That came more than a year after a white supremacist was sentenced to prison for setting fire to the only predominantly African-American church in Conneaut, Ohio, an event Dettelbach used as the basis for the formation of United Against Hate, an interfaith group committed to religious tolerance.^[16]

The office has also pursued civil remedies to civil rights issues, including successfully suing for the use of a bilingual ballot in Cuyahoga County under the Voting Rights Act.^[17]

Political

Dettlebach volunteered for Obama's 2008 campaign, providing legal assistance and advice.^[3] He also served as an advisor Obama's transition team.^[3] He volunteered for Ohio Governor Ted Strickland's 2006 campaign, offering policy advice, fundraising and grassroots activities.^[3]

Personal

Dettelbach was a good shot blocker when he played basketball at the Hawken School. He met his wife, who worked on public health and nutrition matters, in Washington, D.C.^[2] He has two children and is Jewish.

References