Rich Brannon is handling the case for Sgt. Lawrence Hutchins III of Boston, according to the Orange County Register.
The eight were informed of the charges last week.
Hutchins is the highest-ranking of the accused. Brannon is quoted by the Santa Ana paper as saying his client probably feels increased pressure because he is a squad leader.
Lawyers for the eight, according to the Los Angeles Times, predict a long and contentious legal fight. "It's going to be a war," Brannon told that paper.
Brannon, according to his Web site, is a third-generation lawyer who opened his practice in Gainesville in 1979.
This is not the first time he has been involved in defending soldiers in connection with charges brought against them arising out of their service in the Middle East.
In 2004, according to the Nebraska State Bar Association, he tried a felony case at Camp Doha, Kuwait, defending a Marine who faced charges brought while he was stationed in Iraq. A posting on the Web site says he and another attorney, Joseph Hawkins Low IV of Long Beach, California, obtained the first acquittal of the courts martial in the war in Iraq, and received medals of honor from the military judge who presided over the case. Brannon was listed as one of the speakers at a Trials Skills Seminar at the University of Nebraska College of Law in March.
http://accesswdun.com/article/2006/6/107926