James F. Neal (born 1929) is an American trial lawyer and former federal prosecutor best known for being the lead trial counsel during the prosecution of Nixon administration officials during the Watergate scandal. Neal also helped prosecute Teamsters Union president Jimmy Hoffa for attempting to bribe jurors, a charge which arose from a previous trial for allegedly laundering union funds. As a defense attorney, he has successfully defended , Dr. George Nichopoulos, former Louisiana Governor Edwin Edwards, and movie director John Landis. Neal has also represented Ford Motor Company during the Pinto trials and Exxon oil company on charges resulting from the Exxon Valdez oil spill.
Early life edit
James F. Neal was born in 1929. He graduated from high school in Sumner County, Tennessee before attending the University of Wyoming on a football scholarship. After his graduation in 1952, he joined the United States Marine Corps. Following his service in the Marines, he attended Vanderbilt University School of Law where he graduated first in his class in 1957. Neal went on to earn a master's degree in law from Georgetown University School of Law in 1960.
Career as a prosecutor edit
In 1961, Neal was asked by then Attorney General Robert Kennedy to lead the prosecution of corrupt union labor leaders including Jimmy Hoffa. Neal reportedly told Kennedy that he "didn't have any trial experience" to which Kennedy replied "That's OK because I don't have any experience being Attorney General either". The trial ended in a mistrial. Two years later, Neal successfully prosecuted Hoffa for attempting to bribe jurors in his previous trials.
In 1964, President Lyndon Johnson appointed Neal to the position of U.S. attorney in Nashville, Tennessee.
In 1973, Watergate special prosecutor, Archibald Cox, approached Neal to become chief trial counsel in the prosecution of three of the Watergate conspirators. On January, 1 1975 John Ehrlichman as well as H.R. Haldeman and John N. Mitchell were convicted of perjury, conspiracy, and obstruction of justice and sentenced to prison terms of between two and a half and eight years in prison.