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Colonel Joe Venghaus has been a lawyer for the United States Army for over 20 years and has practiced a broad range of legal fields ranging from national security law to contract litigation. Colonel Venghaus currently serves as the senior legal advisor for the United States Army War College and Carlisle Barracks.
Colonel Venghaus has practiced criminal litigation extensively, having served as both a prosecutor and criminal defense attorney. On the criminal defense side, Colonel Venghaus defended Soldiers facing courts-martial, including numerous trials held in Iraq. He spent a year as assistant defense counsel on the capital murder trial of United States v. Kreutzer at Fort Bragg, NC. Colonel Venghaus was also the lead defense attorney for the Army’s region covering cases within Europe and the Middle East, where he supervised all defense attorneys, paralegals, and the defense investigator for the region.
On the government side, Colonel Venghaus was the lead prosecutor for United States Army Special Forces Command at Fort Bragg. Later, he was the Deputy Chief for the Army’s Trial Counsel Assistance Program, where he was responsible for both managing the Army’s sexual assault prosecutors as well as training all Army prosecutors worldwide on case preparation and criminal litigation.
Prior to his current assignment, Colonel Venghaus served as a military judge where he presided over predominantly felony-level criminal cases for Soldiers stationed at Fort Hood, Fort Bliss, Fort Sam Houston, and Fort Polk.
In addition to criminal trial practice, Colonel Venghaus defended the Army in contract litigation cases and served as the senior legal advisor for Army recruiting and an armored Brigade Combat Team. He is licensed in the Commonwealth of Virginia and is admitted to the United States Supreme Court, the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Army Court of Criminal Appeals, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces, and the US Court of Federal Claims.
Colonel Venghaus has coached numerous law school mock trial teams, has run a law student externship program for the Army Judiciary for the past two years, and volunteers as a leader for the Cub Scouts. He is married to Colonel Jennifer Venghaus, who is also an Army Lawyer, and they have two children.
