The Ohio Board of Professional Conduct has recommended that Columbus criminal defense attorney Stephen Michael Chinn be indefinitely suspended from practicing law. The recommendation, made October 8 after a disciplinary case tied to his federal child pornography convictions, is not a final ruling: the Supreme Court of Ohio will decide whether to impose the recommended sanction or a harsher one.
The disciplinary case grew out of an investigation that began when, according to board findings cited by ALABnews, Chinn uploaded two images of child sexual abuse material to Bing image search on May 29, 2023. The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio said the images depicted prepubescent minors engaged in sexually explicit conduct, including sex acts with adults and animals, according to a U.S. Attorney's Office statement. Board findings say the upload triggered an alert from the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children to the Franklin County Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force.
Federal investigation and criminal case
Authorities searched Chinn's Columbus residence on August 16, 2023, according to board findings cited in the ALABnews report. A forensic review of his desktop computer found roughly 4,286 images and 19 videos, the findings state. A federal grand jury indicted him on three counts on September 19, 2023; one transportation-related count was later dismissed.
Chinn pleaded guilty to receipt and possession of child pornography on August 27, 2024. On June 16, 2025, he was sentenced to 96 months in prison and 20 years of supervised release, and ordered to register as a sex offender. The Supreme Court of Ohio suspended him on an interim basis on July 10, 2025, and later held him in contempt for failing to file a compliance affidavit on time. The contempt finding has since been purged, according to the ALABnews report.
The Ohio disciplinary recommendation
A hearing panel considered Chinn's disciplinary case on June 30 and found violations of professional conduct rules 8.4(b) and 8.4(h), which bar criminal conduct that reflects on an attorney's fitness to practice. The panel treated the multiple offenses and victims' vulnerability as aggravating factors. It cited Chinn's lack of prior discipline, cooperation and federal sentence as mitigating factors, according to the ALABnews report.
The Board of Professional Conduct adopted the panel's findings on October 2 and recommended indefinite suspension. It also urged the Supreme Court of Ohio to consider a sanction harsher than the indefinite suspensions imposed in some prior cases, pointing to the volume of material, harm to victims and Chinn's position of public trust. The board recommended that Chinn receive no credit for time served under his interim suspension and pay the costs of the disciplinary proceedings. The Supreme Court has not yet issued a final decision.
Requirements for any return to practice
If Chinn seeks reinstatement, the board recommends requiring proof that he has complied with supervised release and sex offender registration requirements, continued treatment or counseling, and an opinion from a health care professional that he can practice competently and ethically.
According to Avvo.com, Chinn attended Capital University Law School and obtained his Ohio law license in 2016, building a practice as a criminal defense attorney in Columbus. The case, formally titled In the Matter of Stephen Michael Chinn and numbered 2025-029, was also flagged in a June 9 court-news notice as one of the matters scheduled for a hearing before the Board of Professional Conduct, with Jonathan Coughlan listed as Chinn's counsel.
Indefinite suspension would not be unprecedented for an Ohio attorney convicted in a child pornography case. A Supreme Court of Ohio opinion references a prior matter in which an attorney who possessed child pornography was indefinitely suspended and given no credit for time served under an interim felony suspension, according to a 2025 Ohio Supreme Court opinion. In a separate 2015 case, the Ohio Supreme Court indefinitely suspended Worthington attorney Jason C. Grossman based on his conviction for receiving child pornography, according to Court News Ohio.
How the cases and sentence compare
Ohio’s disciplinary outcomes depend on the conduct and procedural circumstances in each case. In a 2021 decision, the Supreme Court of Ohio permanently disbarred Anthony John Polizzi Jr. for sex offenses committed before he became an attorney. The court distinguished that result from cases ending in indefinite suspension, noting that permanent-disbarment cases involved convictions for gross sexual imposition or the use of force, threats of force or extreme coercion. Those offenses and the timing of Polizzi’s conduct differ from the child pornography convictions in Chinn’s case; the board has recommended indefinite suspension, and the Supreme Court has yet to rule. For federal sentencing context, the U.S. Sentencing Commission reported that in fiscal year 2016 the average sentence was 93 months for child-pornography receipt offenses and 55 months for possession offenses. The report noted that receipt carried a five-year mandatory minimum while possession did not. Those historical averages cover offense categories and are not a direct comparison with Chinn’s individual 96-month sentence.
