A criminal defense attorney of 40 years in Ohio has been temporarily suspended from practicing law when it was discovered that he was “blowing off steam” by pooping into Pringles chip cans and chucking the smelly cylinders into a victim advocacy center parking lot.
The odorous activities of attorney Jack Blakeslee were scrutinized by the Ohio Supreme Court, and the ruling was handed down on Wednesday, according to the split per curiam decision obtained by Law&Crime.
Blakeslee admitted to doing the deed at least 10 times and insisted it was a prank during his disciplinary hearing this week, local CBS affiliate WBNS reported. He told the state’s high court that no one was being targeted, and he did this sometimes to “blow off steam.”
A Vietnam War veteran who said he was abused as a child, Blakeslee told the court he threw the open feces-filled cans out of his car window on his way to work. He brought them from home, he said.
In this April 5, 2011 file photo, Pringles chips are seen in a posed photo at a West Bath grocery store. AP Photo/Pat Wellenbach.
The per curiam ruling noted that the drive would take at least “20 minutes.”
Denying that he picked the Haven of Hope victim advocacy center parking lot on purpose, the attorney said he merely liked to imagine the “look of surprise” on the faces of whoever found them because it gave him “a kick.”
Court News Ohio, which first reported details from the disciplinary hearing, noted that Blakeslee did not try to argue that he suffered from any mental disorders, including post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in the military. Doing so may have helped him ease any sanctions or penalties. Blakeslee conceded, though his conduct was abnormal.
He will be suspended for one year with six months stayed.
Blakeslee was only caught in the act thanks to surveillance footage from the advocacy center. The lawyer was found out while he was representing the family of a child who was slain and had to work with a victim advocate there.
He would drive “slowly past the parking lot” at least twice, then he ‘threw the Pringle can containing his feces into the lot” before speeding up and driving away, the ruling states.
The victim advocate working on Blakeslee’s case reported him to police, and he eventually pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of disorderly conduct. The lawyer also had to pay roughly $250 in fines.
The Ohio Supreme Court also noted in its ruling it didn’t believe Blakeslee pitched the poop-filled canisters randomly and didn’t believe he wasn’t intentionally targeting the victim center.
Instead, there was “clear and convincing evidence” presented that he “intentionally selected the location” and that he “escalated a pre-existing pattern of conduct to seek an even greater thrill by pulling his prank on someone he knew … just minutes before he would see one of them in court,” the divided panel found.
Only one judge concurred in part and dissented in part, arguing that Blakeslee should be suspended for two years and face two years of probation.
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