Justice Steven David and Gitmo

December 4, 2018
Justice Steven David

Indiana Supreme Court Justice Steven David

Last Tuesday, Justice David of the Indiana Supreme Court spoke to my law students about his time as Chief Defense Counsel for prisoners at Guantanamo Bay in Cuba.  He personally represented and supervised the representation of people the United States government labelled terrorists and enemy combatants.

Biography

Steven H. David  is the 106th Justice of the  Supreme Court of Indiana. David previously served as a lawyer and military officer. He retired from the  United States Army Reserve  in September 2010 with the rank of  Colonel.

Justice David was born in  Allen County, Indiana , and raised in  Bartholomew County, Indiana.

Education

He graduated magna cum laude from  Murray State University  as a Distinguished Military Graduate on an  R.O.T.C.  scholarship. He earned his law degree from  Robert H. McKinney School of Law. He is also a graduate of the Indiana Judicial College and the Graduate Program for Indiana Judges.

Legal career

David served as a  Chief Defense Counsel  for prisoners at the  Guantanamo Bay detention camp  when they were tried by the  Guantanamo military commission. While serving in that capacity, David complained in 2008 that he lacked sufficient defense lawyers and other resources to defend the prisoners.   David personally represented  Salim Ahmed HamdanOsama bin Laden ‘s driver. After the commission convicted Hamdan, David broadly criticized the commission’s loose procedures, including acceptance of  hearsay  and secret testimony, restrictions on media coverage, and suppression of evidence of abusive interrogations. He called for scrapping the commission system.

In October 2010, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels appointed David to the  Indiana Supreme Court.

Notable opinion

Justice David wrote the majority opinion in  Barnes vs. Indiana .

Information from Wikipedia

The Law Office of Mark Nicholson is solid believer in the right to defense counsel, no matter what a person is charged with by the government.  If you are in need of legal representation, please don’t delay and call him today!

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