Colonel Terrance J. Reese serves as the Deputy Lead Special Trial Counsel of the U.S. Marine Corps.
Colonel Terrance J. Reese was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. After graduating valedictorian from Warren Easton Fundamental Senior High School in 1998, he enlisted into the United States Marine Corps Reserves. He then earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science with minors in Business Administration and Law and Humanities (Cum Laude) from Xavier University of Louisiana in May 2002. He was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant in the Marine Corps on 20 July 2002 before attending Loyola University of New Orleans College of Law, where he earned his Juris Doctorate with both Moot Court and Law Clinic honors and finished in the top 15% of his class.
Colonel Reese has served as Legal Assistance Attorney, Defense Counsel, Senior Defense Counsel, Prosecutor and Deputy Staff Judge Advocate for 2d Marine Aircraft Wing. Colonel Reese also served as the principal legal advisor for 2d Marine Aircraft Wing (Forward) while deployed to Iraq in 2009. In 2010 Colonel Reese was competitively selected to participate in the Special Education Program, where he attended Georgetown University Law Center attaining a Master of Laws (LLM) with a focus in Environmental Law and Federal Litigation in 2011.
After obtaining his LLM, Colonel Reese served as an Associate Counsel, Environmental and Labor Law at the Eastern Area Counsel Office in Camp Lejeune, NC. He was again competitively selected to attend the Marine Corps University Command and Staff College, graduating in June 2015 with a Masters in Military Studies.
From 2015 to 2017, Colonel Reese served as the Deputy Branch Head for the Plans and Innovation Branch of the Judge Advocate Division for the Marine Corps (JPI), which is responsible for the professional development and management of over 500 Marine Corps lawyers. While at JPI, Colonel Reese coordinated with a local National Capitol Region law school to develop a cyber focused Master of Laws program consistent with the Commandant’s planning guidance to increase cyber capabilities in the Marine Corps. Colonel Reese’s efforts led directly to the convening of an operational advisory group, of which he was a vital member, to study how best to immediately develop the Marine Corps Cyber Law capacity and capability. The group’s efforts led to the creation of the Master of Cyber Law Military Occupational Specialty. In November 2015, Colonel Reese was awarded the Major General Kenneth D. Gray Excellence in Jurisprudence Award by the Washington Bar Association (WBA) for outstanding service as a military lawyer. He was also inducted into the Warren Easton H.S. Hall of Fame in 2012, was a Xavier University “40 under 40” honoree in 2016, and was recognized again by the WBA for Outstanding Leadership and Service in November 2016. Colonel Reese was recently selected by the Judge Advocates Association (JAA) as the Marine Corps recipient of the 2022 Outstanding Career Judge Advocate Award.
Colonel Reese served as a military trial judge for the Eastern Judicial Circuit, Navy-Marine Corps Trial Judiciary (NMCTJ) at Camp Lejeune, NC from 2017-2020, the circuit judge for the Western Pacific Judicial Circuit, NMCTJ in Okinawa, Japan from 2020-21, and the 3d Marine Division Staff Judge Advocate from June 2021- June 2023. Colonel Reese most recently served as both the circuit judge for the Northern Judicial Circuit, NMCTJ headquartered at the Navy Yard in Washington, DC, and a military trial judge on the Office of Military Commissions Trial Judiciary (OMCTJ), detailed to the “Cole Bombing” case. Colonel Reese presently serves as the Deputy Lead Special Trial Counsel (DLSTC) of the Marine Corps, Office of Special Trial Counsel (OSTC), which is the office tasked with the sole responsibility for investigating and prosecuting all serious cases, including sexual assault, domestic violence, child abuse and homicide.
Colonel Reese’s awards include five Meritorious Service Medals, two Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medals, the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, a Meritorious Unit Citation, Humanitarian Service Medal, three Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, and a Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon.