Legal Aid attorney sanctioned after trying to bribe police with sexual favors

The state of Iowa has suspended the law license of an attorney who offered police officers sexual favors to avoid being jailed for drunken driving.

In a sworn affidavit filed with the Grievance Commission of the Iowa Supreme Court, attorney Deanna K. Steinbach of Des Moines recently consented to the suspension of her law license.

In her affidavit, Steinbach states that on Christmas Eve 2021, she was driving under the influence in Jasper County when her car left the roadway and entered a ditch along U.S. Highway 6. After police arrived at the scene, she told officers she had been drinking but refused to show her driver’s license.

She states that she then performed a field sobriety test and was arrested for second-offense drunken driving. A breath test indicated her blood alcohol level was .257, more than three times the legal limit for driving, according to court records.

“While law enforcement officers were in the process of booking me, I was heavily intoxicated and distraught and made multiple offers to the arresting officer and jail staff to perform sex acts in exchange for letting me leave the jail,” Steinbach wrote in her affidavit.

In May, she pleaded guilty to second-offense OWI and bribery. She was convicted of the OWI charge, granted a deferred judgment on the bribery charge, and placed on probation for three years.

In her affidavit, Steinbach, who works as a staff attorney for Iowa Legal Aid, stated she is an alcoholic who also suffers from anxiety, but added that she takes full responsibility for her actions. She has already sought treatment for her alcoholism and mental health issues, she told the commission.

According to court records, Steinbach was publicly reprimanded in 2020 after twice being convicted for first-offense OWI – a situation that stemmed from the second arrest occurring before she was convicted in the first case. She also was convicted of public intoxication and interference with official acts, according to her affidavit.

The 2020 reprimand also made reference to an incident in which she appeared to be intoxicated while working as a law clerk. Court records indicate that on Aug. 2, 2019, the chief judge of Iowa’s Third Judicial District, Duane Hoffmeyer, wrote to the Attorney Disciplinary Board and reported that on June 6, 2019, Steinbach — then working as a law clerk in Sioux City — was found passed out on a couch and smelling of alcohol during work hours. He reported that Steinbach had been placed on administrative leave and fired a few weeks later.

In his report to the board, Hoffmeyer noted Steinbach was a “smart and competent law clerk.”

In response to Steinbach’s affidavit, the Iowa Supreme Court has suspended Steinbach’s law license for 90 days.