Ohio attorney suspended for throwing poop-filled chip cans at crime-victim advocacy center

COLUMBUS, Ohio (WTVG) - The Ohio Supreme Court is taking disciplinary action against a criminal defense attorney for throwing a Pringles chip can filled with his feces into the parking lot of a county crime-victim advocacy center, a seemingly not uncommon practice for the man.

The high court suspended Jack Blakeslee, of Noble County, for one year with six months stayed on Wednesday, according to the court’s news page. The court found there he chose the advocacy center as his “drop zone” to get a thrill from parking victim advocates he had known for years and would likely be seeing in court minutes later.

Blakeslee reportedly admitted to throwing the poop chip cans on at least ten occasions in various locations, routinely disposing of the cans while on the way to work, but said he wasn’t targeting anyone. He said admitted his pranks were “stupid” and was embarrassed by media attention. He also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct and littering charges.

The court’s divided opinion found he engaged in conduct that poorly reflects his fitness to practice law.

“Blakeslee failed to control his own bizarre impulses to place feces-filled cans out in public for unsuspecting people to find,” the court said. “His aberrant conduct has adversely reflected on his own fitness to practice law and brought discredit to the profession through significant media attention.”

The moment Blakeslee threw the feces-filled chips can into the parking lot was caught on surveillance footage, just minutes before he arrived at the local courthouse for a pretrial hearing. The CEO of the victim advocacy center said she saw it happen and found the can in the parking lot.

Blakeslee has been a criminal defense attorney for more than 40 years and had no prior record of attorney discipline. He testified that he is a Vietnam veteran and received PTSD treatment, though he did not try to establish he had a mental disorder to mitigate any sanction he might face.

Read more at the link here.