Ethics
Court docket disbars ex-prosecutor convicted for secret recordings, says he created impression ‘justice is on the market’
July 2, 2025, 12:26 pm CDT
A former part-time prosecutor convicted for secretly recording intimate photos of two lovers, together with a lady he prosecuted, has been disbarred. (Picture from Shutterstock)
A former part-time prosecutor convicted for secretly recording intimate photos of two lovers, together with a lady he prosecuted, has been disbarred.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court docket revoked the legislation license of Daniel P. Steffen, a former assistant district lawyer, in a July 1 opinion famous by the Authorized Career Weblog. The state supreme courtroom rejected as inadequate a referee’s suggestion for an 18-month suspension.
Steffen can petition for reinstatement beneath Wisconsin legislation after 5 years. He license revocation was retroactive to June 2023, the date of a abstract suspension.
Steffen was convicted in April 2023 for violating a Wisconsin legislation barring the seize of intimate representations of an individual with out the sufferer’s information or consent. He spent 10 months in jail earlier than being freed beneath an earned launch program.
Ethics regulators alleged that Steffen violated an expert conduct rule offering that legal professionals mustn’t commit prison conduct that adversely impacts their honesty, trustworthiness or health as a lawyer. The Wisconsin Supreme Court docket mentioned it’s flawed to focus solely on the prison violation, nonetheless, in assessing the ethics violation.
The referee had discovered that the 2 ladies voluntarily entered into relationships with Steffen, and there was no quid professional quo. However Steffen’s conduct with the girl he prosecuted “creates the impression that justice is on the market, and that public officers may be purchased off with sexual acts,” the Wisconsin Supreme Court docket mentioned.
The state supreme courtroom additionally famous that the second girl had sought recommendation on how one can keep away from prosecution for an alleged act of property harm after the sexual encounter, making a “subtext” about forbearing prosecution regardless of no express dialog to that impact.
“In brief,” the state supreme courtroom mentioned, “the general nature of lawyer Steffen’s misconduct doesn’t merely contain recording sexual acts with out the consent of his victims; it entails an assistant district lawyer abusing his place of energy and authority.”
The referee had indicated that the document isn’t very clear on “who was getting used and who was the consumer,” an assertion rejected by the Wisconsin Supreme Court docket.
“Each victims had been weak by the actual fact that lawyer Steffen was an assistant district lawyer and held the facility of the justice system over their head just like the proverbial Sword of Damocles,” the state supreme courtroom mentioned.
The Wisconsin Supreme Court docket summarized the alleged wrongdoing primarily based on the referee’s findings and stipulated info.
The girl Steffen prosecuted had been charged in Burnett County, Wisconsin, with violating a harassment restraining order defending the daddy of their youngster. The underlying prison criticism alleged that Steffen gave the girl his private cellphone quantity on the preliminary pretrial convention in June 2018. They exchanged flirty textual content messages and mentioned going out for a drink, the Wisconsin Supreme Court docket mentioned.
Per week later, Steffen mailed a proposed judgment of conviction to the girl that might permit her to wipe her document clear if she pleaded responsible, dedicated no additional prison acts, and didn’t contact the daddy exterior of visitation for a specified time interval. The preliminary proposal requiring a clear document for one 12 months was lowered to 6 months on the plea listening to.
The girl pleaded responsible, and the identical day, Steffen and the sufferer started exchanging sexual textual content messages. In July 2018, the district lawyer’s workplace obtained a referral alleging that the girl violated the harassment injunction in opposition to her youngster’s father. Steffen allegedly informed a paralegal that the violation wouldn’t be prosecuted. Steffen and the girl started a sexual relationship the identical month.
The district lawyer’s workplace obtained a second harassment referral on the finish of July 2018. There was no prosecution. Steffen had maintained that he didn’t make the prosecution determination on both referral. He additionally testified at his disciplinary listening to that he thought that the matter in opposition to the girl was closed on the time of the preliminary settlement.
The case in opposition to the girl was in the end dismissed primarily based on a January 2019 movement by the district lawyer’s workplace.
Steffen was accused within the prison criticism of recording secret movies of sexual acts with the girl on an iPad on his dresser pointed on the mattress. Though the prison costs mentioned there was no consent to 2 recordings of the girl, there was testimony at trial that she had consented to some recordings of different sexual encounters.
The girl disclosed her relationship with Steffen to a particular agent whereas jailed on one other matter. She asserted that she had intercourse with an assistant dsitrict lawyer in Burnett County in alternate for leniency on a prison case.
The second girl started a sexual relationship with Steffen in 2017 after they started exchanging sexual textual content messages. The key recording was made in August of that 12 months. After the sexual encounter, Steffen spoke to the sufferer about her issues about attainable prison costs for damaging the mailbox of her daughter’s father.
Steffen later informed the girl that he recorded the encounter however deleted it from his cellphone after she turned indignant and requested him to take away it. The video remained on his iPad, nonetheless. The girl later tried to “blackmail” Steffen throughout an investigation of the recordings by providing to withhold her cellphone quantity from investigators if the lawyer forgave a invoice owed by one among her buddies, the referee discovered.
The referee famous that each ladies had exchanged intimate photos with Steffen in textual content messages and mentioned that sophisticated the seriousness of the offense. He additionally discovered that each ladies voluntarily entered into sexual relationships with Steffen with out coercion or threats.
Steffen had mentioned he was at “an emotional low level” on the time of the offenses. He cooperated within the disciplinary investigation.
Steffen was admitted to legislation apply in Wisconsin in September 1998 and has no prior disciplinary historical past.
He didn’t instantly reply to an ABA Journal e-mail request for remark despatched to an e-mail handle listed by the State Bar of Wisconsin. Nor did he instantly reply to the Journal’s voicemail.
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