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Neal A. Puckett (LtCol, USMC, Ret. )

Neal A. Puckett (LtCol, USMC, Ret. ) is a nationally renowned military criminal defense attorney who defended LTC (R) Allen West against charges of detainee abuse in Iraq in 2003. Mr. Puckett was commissioned in 1977 through the Platoon Leaders Class program after earning a B.A. degree, magna cum laude, with a double major in Psychology and Speech Communication from Indiana University, where he was also a Phi Beta Kappa. Puckett graduated from The Basic School in 1977 and was designated an Intelligence Officer.  Puckett served in the 2nd Marine Division at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, was deployed to Northern Europe for a NATO Exercise, and later returned as a Battalion Intelligence Officer for 1stBattalion, 8th Marine Regiment. After completion of a six-month deployment to the Mediterranean Sea, Puckett assumed command of the 4th Counterintelligence Team. 

 

Completing the Naval Justice School in 1984, Captain Puckett served as a military defense counsel, chief prosecutor and Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at Camp Pendleton, California. In July 1989, he transferred to Okinawa, Japan to serve as a military trial judge, and later as President of the Okinawa Bench and Bar Association. Lieutenant Colonel Puckett’s was also the Officer in Charge of the Legal Service Support Section (LSSS) of the Third Force Service Support Group in Okinawa. The LSSS provides military justice, review, legal assistance and administrative military law services to Marine units throughout Japan.

 

During his service, Mr. Puckett was twice awarded both the Meritorious Service and Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals. Immediately upon his retirement from the Marine Corps, he served a year as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Pensacola, Florida.  He has also taught numerous trial advocacy courses, as well as college and graduate courses in political science, government, sociology, criminal justice and the legal process. Mr. Puckett is married to a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel and has two children and five grandchildren.



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