Colonel Linda Strite Murnane (U.S. Air Force, Retired) is “Of Counsel” with Cusack Law Office, LLC in Beavercreek, Ohio. Prior to her current role, she served in a wide range of positions in domestic and international law.
Linda served as the Chief, Court Management Services Section at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon located in Leidschendam, The Netherlands, from August 2014 until May 2017. Between 2013 and 2014, she served as the Judicial Bailiff for the Honorable Anne Taylor, Franklin County Municipal Court, Columbus, Ohio.
Linda was the Chief, Court Management and Support Services for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands from 2009 until 2012. In that position, she led teams totaling about 40 staff involved in the daily operation of the courtrooms in which the trials of alleged war criminals are being tried under the mandate of the United Nations Security Council. She also was responsible for leading a team responsible for implementing three components of the European Union-funded War Crimes Justice Project, providing training to court professionals and others in the Balkans, transcribing verbatim local language transcripts and providing translation of the ICTY’s Appeals Chamber Case Law Research Tool in Balkan languages. In 2011, she also spent three months as the Acting Head of Chambers for the Tribunal and in 2011 – 2012 she spent four- and one-half months as the Acting Deputy Registrar for the Tribunal.
She spent two years as one of the four Senior Legal Officers assigned to Trial Chambers in the ICTY. While a Senior Legal Officer, Colonel Murnane was responsible for preparation of orders, decisions, judgments, and support for the international judiciary. Colonel Murnane specifically had responsibility for the cases of Milutinovic, et al. (six accused charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosovo), Prlic, et al. (six accused charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity involving the Herceg-Bosna leadership), and Vojislav Seselj. She was also responsible in the pre-trial phase for the cases of Rasim Delic, Stanisic and Simatovic, Momcilo Perisic, Lukic and Lukic, Vladimir Djordjevic and Radovan Karadzic.
While at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Ms. Murnane served as the Independent Commissioner, investigating allegations of misconduct lodged against defence (European spelling) counsel and the legal representative for victims. While at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Ms. Murnane was the senior legal officer assigned to support the Disciplinary Board, and later was appointed to chair the Disciplinary Panel to address allegations of misconduct by non-staff counsel at the institution.
Colonel Murnane served as the Senior International Attorney for the Defense Institute of International Legal Studies from November 2008 until her return to the ICTY in August 2009. Based in Newport, Rhode Island, the Institute is the Department of Defense’s lead agency providing seminars and programs to military personnel and civilian government officials throughout the world dealing with the legal complications of the strategic, operational, and tactical decisions faced by military personnel and civilian professionals as they work to accomplish their missions.
Linda served as the Executive Director for the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights in the United States, a gubernatorial executive cabinet commission, from February 2005 until July 2007. Prior to that, she served for nearly 30 years on active duty with the United States Air Force. In her Air Force career, Colonel Murnane served in a variety of positions, including ten years as a chief circuit military judge, or military judge. She was the Chief Circuit Judge for Europe and the Eastern Judicial Circuit, Bolling AFB, Washington, D.C. She presided at the first criminal trials for the U.S. Air Force during Operations Iraqi and Enduring Freedom in the war zone, deploying five times in support of those operations between 2001 and 2003.
Colonel Murnane served as the Chief, International, Operations and Civil Law while assigned at U.S. Forces Japan/Fifth Air Force from 1988 – 1991. She was the Deputy Staff Judge Advocate at Ramstein Air Base, Germany, from 1991 – 1993, and the Staff Judge Advocate at Bitburg Air Base, Germany from 1993 to 1994. While on active duty, she assisted hundreds of military members and their families with estate planning and probate advice and prepared wills and trusts for servicemembers and their spouses addressing the unique needs of the military family.
In addition to her other roles, Colonel Murnane worked with Lexis Nexis and with Western Governors University following her military retirement. She was the felony prosecutor in Brown County, Ohio, for one year.
Linda is a past chair of the American Bar Association (ABA) Judicial Division, past chair of the ABA National Conference of Specialized Court Judges, and past chair of the ABA Standing Committee on Armed Forces Law. She is the current chair of the Military and Veterans Affairs Committee for the Ohio State Bar Association. She received the ABA Margaret Brent Women Lawyers of Achievement Award in 2008 and the ABA International Law Section’s Mayre Rasmussen Award in 2019. In 2003, she received the Ohio State Bar Association’s Nettie Cronise Lutes Award.
Linda is licensed to practice law before the U.S. Supreme Court, the Ohio Supreme Court, the Kentucky Supreme Court, the U.S. Court of International Trade, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, the U.S. Federal Circuit, the U.S. Southern District of Ohio and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces and the Army and Air Force Courts of Criminal Appeals. She is accredited to assist veterans with their cases before the Veterans Administration. She is a March 1981 graduate of the University of Cincinnati College of Law.
Linda and her husband Kevin live in Xenia, Ohio. Kevin also retired from the U.S. Air Force serving more than 22 years on active duty in the Personnel field. They have two daughters, a foster daughter, three grandchildren and a foster grandchild. They belong to the Queen of Apostles Community in Kettering, Ohio and serve as co-chairs of the Social Justice Committee for their Catholic Marianist faith community.
