AURORA | A former Denver prosecutor will serve two months behind bars after sending a series of inappropriate text messages to a teenager who shadowed him on the job.
Daniel James Steinhauser, 29, was sentenced earlier this month to 60 days in jail and five years of supervised probation after pleading guilty in July to contributing to the delinquency of a minor — a high-level misdemeanor.
Steinhauser was working as a Denver deputy district attorney prosecuting juvenile cases in 2023 when, via text messages, he urged the teen to smoke marijuana and advised him how to clear it out of his system without being detected, according police and court records made public by the 18th Judicial District Attorney’s office.
“Other messages included Steinhauser asking the teen to meet with him without his parents and to delete messages so he wouldn’t get in trouble,” a news release reads.
The release says the parents had sent their teenager to shadow Steinheiser on the job in an attempt to address the boy’s behavior issues: “The family had hoped their son would be able to witness a juvenile (court) docket and see the potential consequences associated with poor decisions.”
The parents intercepted Steinhauser’s texts and reported them to authorities. In her report, an Arapahoe County Sheriff’s investigator described the messages as potential “grooming.”
Denver police referred the case to that office because the teen lived in Arapahoe County.
Steinhauser could not be reached for comment.
According to his LinkedIn profile, he attended the Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver where his mother, former Denver prosecutor and current Aurora Municipal Court relief judge Karen Steinhauser, has taught. Daniel Steinheiser worked for the Denver DA’s office from May 2022 to May 2023, when his text messages came to light.
Denver District Attorney Beth McCann’s office said in a statement to the Sentinel that she “believes that it is a very sad situation for all involved.”
In his office’s news release, John Kellner, the 18th district attorney whose team prosecuted Steinhauser, said Steinhauser “was able to use his position as an attorney to gain the trust of a troubled youth and his parents.”
“While many misdemeanor offenses often result in no time behind bars, I do believe this defendant’s jail sentence is appropriate based on his blatant disregard for the law and the trust he eroded through his own actions.”
I’m reluctant to call it “potential grooming” because the term is being misused daily for political purposes, but this man is a lawyer. As a professional, he must adhere to a higher standard. Advising a teen how to evade detection of an illegal act, how to hide messages, and to meet with him without parental knowledge is beyond the pale. He should pay with his law license.