Welcome to The Judge’s Chamber: Part I

Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold has made waves ever since taking the bench nearly a year ago.

Since that time, the county has seen a record number of indictments and a significant increase of defendants sent to jail. Some of Leuthold’s refrains have become nearly commonplace in the courtroom as he takes a hardline stance against drugs. From the oft uttered “this is not the county to be doing drugs” to the unusual “three idiots with a pellet gun,” Leuthold has made his mark on Crawford County, whether residents believe it is for good or bad.

So who is Sean Leuthold and what is he doing on Crawford County Now’s opinion page? Well, we have opened the floor for the judge to speak about whatever he wants to talk about. Over the next five days we will be running a five-part introduction piece on Crawford County Common Pleas Court Judge Sean Leuthold. Each day will feature a different section of the interview our reporter Krystal Smalley had with Leuthold about himself and the justice system in Crawford County. After that, Leuthold will occasionally submit articles to us that will cover a range of topics of his choosing.

Welcome to . . . The Judge’s Chambers.

Krystal: Let’s hear a little bit about your history: where you’re from, where you went to school, and why did you become a lawyer.

Leuthold: I graduated from Wynford High School, I went to Bluffton College, and then I went to the University of Akron School of Law. Believe it or not, I always did want to be a lawyer. I was always fascinated about the idea of going into the courtroom and being involved in trials. I watched all the legal shows, movies about murder trials and stuff as a kid. That was always something I wanted to do.

I was fortunate enough, as a lawyer, the majority of the work that I did involved trial work so I was able to be involved in countless numbers of trials, both criminal and civil. It was always one of those things that fascinated me as a kid and so I always knew I was going to go to law school. Quite frankly, it was every bit as fun as I thought it would be.

Krystal: So where did you practice?

Leuthold: I practiced in Cleveland right out of law school. I worked for a big law firm called Reminger & Reminger. I did mostly defense – civil stuff – and represented Chrysler Corporation, the biggest client I think we had at the time. I also represented a number of different trucking companies like Yellow Freight. All the cases there were civil and they all involved usually motor vehicle accidents or things where cars malfunction and there was a big problem.

That’s basically the work I did for the first three years of my career. Then I came back here to Bucyrus and eventually my brother and I – Shane, who’s the Muni Court judge – started our practice, which was called Leuthold & Leuthold. We specialized in litigation – civil and criminal- and that’s when I became involved in the criminal work. I probably did criminal for several years.

Krystal: What made you want to make the jump to being a judge?

Leuthold: Being a lawyer can certainly be a very rewarding career. But, as a lawyer, your job is to do what’s best for your client. That may not always be what’s best for the judicial system or the community. You’re not interested in justice; you’re interested in what’s best for your client – and you’re required to, there’s nothing wrong with that. Whereas judge, you get to look at the whole picture and try to do what the right thing is and try to do what’s right not only for each individual case, but what’s right for the system and what’s right for the community. By moving on to be a judge, I was able to do that.

Krystal: In February, it should be about a year, correct?

Leuthold. February 10 is my one year.

Krystal: How does it feel to be sitting in Common Pleas Court as a judge for a year now?

Leuthold: You know, it’s flown by. It really has. It seems like just yesterday that I was on the bench (in Municipal Court). In some ways it’s flown by, but in some ways it seems like I’ve been here forever.

Obviously, the Common Pleas Court bench carries with it a lot of challenges. The Muni Court bench is very challenging; the Common Pleas bench is just as challenging but in different ways. It’s been a pleasure to meet those challenges and deal with the different things. Obviously, it’s more complicated cases. The cases involved prison rather than county jail. It’s been a lot of fun, but it’s been challenging. There’s been days when I’m very frustrated, but overall it’s been a very rewarding experience and I love the job. I think this is the best job in the entire world. I wouldn’t want anything else.