Steve Dettelbach '88, a defense attorney and former federal prosecutor, was recommended by Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, to be the U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Ohio last Monday. Dettelbach must be nominated by President Barack Obama and approved by the Senate before he can assume the post.
Dettelbach, 43, is currently a partner at the Cleveland-based law firm Baker Hostetler. He is a member of the Ohio Ethics Commission and previously spent several years in the U.S. Department of Justice Civil Rights Division. He was also an assistant U.S. attorney in Cleveland for more than three years, and prosecuted the mayor of Cleveland in a high profile corruption case.
"Steve Dettelbach would excel as U.S. Attorney," Brown said in a statement released last week. "He received high marks for his work as an assistant U.S. attorney in the Northern District and prior to that in Maryland and the District of Columbia. He is a leader in handling civil rights cases throughout the nation. Steve demonstrated a commitment to diversity and public service as an assistant U.S. attorney, and I wholeheartedly recommend him for this position."
Dettelbach's nomination, however, could face some obstacles.
The Obama administration has worked to significantly enhance its vetting process, according to multiple media outlets, hoping to avoid a repeat of recent embarrassments associated with last-minute disclosures such as those that plagued the nominations of Secretary of State Timothy Geithner '83 and Tom Daschle, the president's first nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services.
Dettelbach and other Baker Hosteler lawyers currently represent clients that are being investigated in a corruption probe that he would oversee as U.S. Attorney, according to an article in the Cleveland Plain Dealer. This could present a conflict of interest, although if nominated and confirmed, Dettelbach could recuse himself from cases dealing with former clients. Although he has not officially been nominated for the position, Dettelbach told the Plain Dealer that he has stopped working for those clients.
Brown's office did not return requests for comment, and the White House declined to comment. Dettelbach also declined to comment on his candidacy, saying that he was "thankful and honored by the Senator's recommendation," but did not want to discuss the ongoing selection process.
Dettelbach is known for his work as a prosecutor for the Department of Justice in a case in which 70 Thai women were allegedly held against their will and forced to work in a sweatshop in suburban Los Angeles.
Michael Gennaco '75, the lead attorney on the case and Dettelbach's friend, said that Dettelbach's character, concern for human rights and skill as a civil rights attorney were evident during their work on the case.
"Right down the street from where our office was, a virtual prison was developed in a condo," Gennaco said. "Prosecuting this case required a certain skill and sensitivity. It was such a wholesale violation of human rights and the last thing you want to do is violate the victims' rights even more during the prosecution, which can be made incredibly traumatic when they have to relive their story and face their captors."
Gennaco said Brown had made a "great choice" in recommending Dettelbach.
"I think [Dettelbach] won't look at his role as simply putting bad guys in jail," Gennaco said. "I think the office will be more sensitive to victims issues, humans rights issues and justice with a capital 'J.'"
After graduating from Dartmouth, Dettelbach attended Harvard Law School in the same class as Obama.
Dettelbach said he did not wish to discuss how well he knows or knew the president, although he said he played basketball with him on occasion in law school.
Dettelbach said that his Dartmouth education was one of the things that first pushed him in the direction of public service and civil rights.
"I think at Dartmouth, honestly, it was the first time I really became involved in public service," he said. "I was in RAID, or Responsible AIDS information at Dartmouth, which was a community health education group. This was in the early years of the AIDS epidemic. Peer education was an important tool to lower risk for at risk groups, and young people at college can be an at risk group. That was a really important experience for me, the first time I remember really taking a stance on a public policy issue, and I wanted to do more."
At Dartmouth, Dettelbach also played on the junior varsity basketball team, was a sports reporter for WDCR and a member of Chi Gamma Epsilon fraternity, he said.
