Jeffrey Colwell (born 1965) is an American lawyer, and retired

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for conducting expeditionary and amphibious operations through ...

. Colwell served in the Marine Corps from his graduation from the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (US Naval Academy, USNA, or Navy) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as Secretary of ...

in 1987 until his retirement in 2012. The Marine Corps sponsored Colwell to earn a

J.D. JD or jd may refer to: Arts and entertainment * ''JD'' (film), a 2016 Bollywood film * J.D. (''Scrubs''), nickname of Dr. John Dorian, fictional protagonist of the comedy-drama ''Scrubs'' * JD Fenix, a character from the ''Gears of War'' vi ...

degree at

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. With 7,560 students (includes all campuses, 7,379 at the Boston location alone), it is the eighth-largest university in metropolitan Boston. It was founded as a l ...

. After his retirement, he moved with his wife and two children to

Denver, Colorado Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the United ...

to become a court clerk. Colwell served as the senior Defense attorney for

Guantanamo captive The Guantanamo Bay detention camp ( es, Centro de detención de la bahía de Guantánamo) is a United States military prison located within Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, also referred to as Guantánamo, GTMO, and Gitmo (), on the coast of Guant ...

Ahmed Ghailani Ahmed Khalfan Ghailani ( ar, أحمد خلفان الغيلاني, ''Aḥmad Khalifān al-Ghaīlānī'') is a Tanzanian conspirator of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization convicted for his role in the bombing of embassies in Kenya and Tanzania. ...

, prior to his transfer to the US civilian justice system. He concluded that Ghailani ''"... was a young kid at that time who was sort of lured and used as a pawn."'' Ghailani wanted Colwell to help defend him in his civilian trial in 2009. This request was denied. He was appointed chief defense counsel in 2010. In early 2011, Colwell, in his capacity as chief defense counsel, protested attempts to impose strict new rules on attorneys. Under the new rules attorneys would be required to inform camp authorities what language(s) they planned to use to communicate with their clients, and would have to get permission from the CIA before asking questions about confessions they allegedly made while confined in CIA

black sites In military terminology, a black site is a location at which an unacknowledged black operation or black project is conducted. According to the Associated Press, "Black sites are clandestine jails where prisoners generally are not charged with a ...

. In late 2011 newly appointed camp commander

David B. Woods Rear Admiral (lower half) David B. Woods is an officer in the United States Navy. When Woods was a junior officer he served as a fighter pilot. When he became more senior he specialized in signals intelligence. Woods tried to impose new, restr ...

ordered new, highly restrictive rules on lawyers' communications with their clients. Woods ordered defense attorneys to surrender for review all documents they wanted to share with their clients. Legal commentators suggested that lawyers who complied with the order were putting their license to practice law at risk, as violating attorney-client privilege was a career threatening ethical violation. Colwell ordered all defense attorneys to halt all communication with their clients, until Woods' order was withdrawn.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Colwell, Jeffrey 1965 births Living people Date of birth missing (living people) Place of birth missing (living people) American lawyers United States Marine Corps colonels Suffolk University alumni