Last modified: Monday, October 22, 2007
Court hearing, lecture mark Military Justice Week at Law School
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
OCT. 22, 2007
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- A military appeals court hearing and talks by IU alumni who have achieved highly successful careers as military attorneys will highlight Military Justice Week, Oct. 22-26, at the Indiana University School of Law--Bloomington.
IU law graduates Neal Puckett, J.D.'84, and Major Nicholas Lancaster, J.D.'99, will serve as practitioners-in-residence during the week, providing advice and information for students who are pursuing or interested in legal careers in the military.
Puckett will give a public lecture, "Handling High-Profile Cases," at noon on Oct. 23 (Tuesday) in the Moot Court Room of the Law School. Lancaster will meet on Oct. 24 (Wednesday) with 11 Indiana Law students headed for careers as Judge Advocate General's Corps officers, including nine officers in the Army's Funded Legal Education Program, one Marine Corps officer and one Air Force officer. On Oct. 26 (Friday), Lancaster will meet with students as part of the school's "Lunch with a Lawyer" series.
On Oct. 25 (Thursday), the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces will hear arguments at the Law School in U.S. v. Daniel Pack, a case involving alleged indecent acts with a minor. The Court will consider whether the appellant's rights were violated when a military trial judge allowed the alleged victim to testify by one-way, closed-circuit TV from a remote location. The hearing, part of the Court's "Project Outreach" program, starts at noon in the Moot Court Room and is open to the public.
Puckett, who is retired from the U.S. Marine Corps, is a former military judge, prosecutor and defense attorney, and is now in private practice, specializing in military cases. His clients have included former Brigadier General Janis Karpinski, who was demoted in the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib prisoner abuse scandal; and Staff Sgt. Frank Wuterich, charged in the deaths of 17 Iraqis in the town of Haditha.
Lancaster is a professor in the Criminal Law Department of the Judge Advocate General's Corps School in Charlottesville, Va. He has served tours of duty in Afghanistan and Iraq, where he was head prosecutor for the 101st Airborne Division and liaison officer between the Division and the Coalition Provisional Authority.
