NEWS

Shane Leuthold appointed Municipal Court judge

Todd Hill
Reporter

Shane Leuthold was appointed by the governor to serve as the new judge of Crawford County Municipal Court. Monday was his first day on the bench.

BUCYRUS – There will soon be two Leutholds deciding cases at the Crawford County Courthouse.

On Thursday, Gov. John Kasich announced the appointment of attorney Shane M. Leuthold of Bucyrus to serve as a judge on the Crawford County Municipal Court, a position vacated in early February when Leuthold's brother, Sean Leuthold, then Municipal Court judge, moved upstairs to assume the position of Crawford County Common Pleas Court judge, to which he was elected in November.

Shane Leuthold will assume office March 30 and must run for the judgeship in the November election to retain the seat for the remainder of the unexpired term, which doesn't end until the close of 2019.

During his seven years on the Municipal Court bench, Sean Leuthold earned a reputation for being tough on defendants in drug cases, and routinely handed down very high bonds, sometimes as high as a million dollars.

"I would say we have some of the exact same ideas about judicial matters," Shane Leuthold said.

Anticipating that some observers might see a potential conflict of interest with one Leuthold in Municipal Court handing up cases to another Leuthold, his brother, in Common Pleas Court, Shane noted that each court is independent of the other, and stated that under the judicial code of conduct no such conflict will exist.

"The governor's office has looked at this issue and found that is not the case. I will handle primarily misdemeanor cases, while Judge Sean Leuthold will handle felony matters," he said.

Shane Leuthold received a bachelor of arts degree from Bluffton College and a juris doctor degree from the University of Akron School of Law, where he was active on the mock trial team.

He has been an associate attorney with the Kennedy, Purdy, Heoffel and Gernert law firm in Bucyrus; a partner with Kennedy, Purdy, Heoffel, Gernert, Leuthold and Leuthold; and a partner with Leuthold and Leuthold, with his brother. He currently owns his own law practice, Leuthold Law Office, 1317 E. Mansfield St., where he handles personal injury cases.

Shane Leuthold has served on the board of directors for the Crawford County chapter of the American Red Cross and established Lighthouse Homeless Shelter.

Sean Leuthold assumed the judgeship of the county Common Pleas Court after Judge Russell B. Wiseman retired in the first week of February.