Chuck Hughes has made a career of protecting and serving others. Chuck’s loyalty to this country led to a desire to protect and serve America. He enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps after high school graduation. Mr. Hughes saw deployment with the II Marine Expeditionary Force, out of McCutcheon Field, NC, and later with the III Marine Expeditionary Force out of Iwakuni, Japan. While serving in the Marine Corps, Mr. Hughes advanced meritoriously through the ranks and received several awards including for firearms.
After being Honorably Discharged from serving his country, Mr. Hughes decided to continue to protect and serve locally as a member of the Pensacola Police Department. Although Mr. Hughes began his law enforcement career in uniform patrol, he was quickly recruited for the Traffic Section and became a Motor Officer, where he specialized in hit and run investigations, traffic homicide cases, and accident reconstruction. After spending four years with the Traffic Section, Mr. Hughes was transferred to the Major Crimes Control Division (Detective Bureau). After serving three years in this capacity, Mr. Hughes was promoted to the persons’ crimes unit where he initially specialized in sex crimes, before being moved to robbery/homicide. Subsequent specialized training in these areas, such as advanced interview and interrogation techniques, death investigation, blood spatter investigation, occult and religious terrorist investigation, and finally working on the violent fugitive task force and cold case homicides. Mr. Hughes received multiple service awards for recognized special investigative efforts from the City of Pensacola, Escambia County, and as far north as the Illinois State Police where he followed the case leads that led to the apprehension of a mother who had killed her child and was attempting to kill the second one when Mr. Hughes found her. Shortly after her arrest, she was also charged for the attempted contract killing of Mr. Hughes (the second contract taken on his life).
During his law enforcement career, Mr. Hughes personally arrested more than a thousand people, for multiple homicides, bank robberies, sex crimes, etc. Mr. Hughes developed close relationships with judges, prosecutors, and criminal defense attorneys alike while working in law enforcement.
Mr. Hughes then shifted gears in his career and decided to attend law school. After graduating from Mississippi College School of Law, Mr. Hughes once again returned to the service of his community as an Assistant State Attorney for the First Judicial Circuit of Florida. Within nine months beginning his career as a prosecutor, Mr. Hughes was promoted to the felony division and then later was promoted to the Special Prosecution Unit, where he specialized in consumer fraud and organized crimes.
Mr. Hughes eventually left the State Attorney Office to go on to explore other legal career development positions to include criminal defense attorney, police legal advisor, bar counsel for the Florida Bar, adjunct professor for Pensacola State College, and guest lecturer for U.S. Law Shield.
Ultimately, Mr. Hughes’ need to protect and serve others brought him to Katz & Phillips, P.A., where he continues to fight to ensure our constitutional right to bear arms is not infringed upon.