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Timothy James Bilecki's Legal Cases (89)

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Military law

United States v. Marine E-8

N/A

OUTCOME: Retirement Saved

Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan: Marine E-8 â€“ June 2011 Charges: Abusive Sexual Contact, Drunk and Disorderly Conduct. Maximum Sentence: Dishonorable Discharge, 7 years and six months in confineme ... nt, total forfeitures, reduction to E-1, Sex offender registration, Federal felony conviction, Loss of military retirement. This case involved yet another Marine in Okinawa charged with an alcohol related sexual assault. Our client was charged after his friendâ€™s wife alleged that she was sexually assaulted in her bedroom after throwing a birthday party for her husband. Our client allegedly became highly intoxicated, crawled into bed with the victim and sexually assaulted her while she was asleep. After being sexually assaulted, the alleged victim woke up and identified our client running out of the bedroom. While there was limited physical evidence in this case, the circumstantial evidence was strong in that our client was the only other male in the house beyond her husband, was wearing a bright orange shirt (which she identified) and the victim did not have any strong motives to fabricate. After a week in trial, our client was convicted of abusive sexual contact. Never relenting, the defense put on a strong sentencing argument as well as evidence of the value of our clientâ€™s retirement. The government asked for eighteen months confinement and a bad conduct discharge. Our client only received no jail time and no discharge, only a two-grade reduction in rank and restriction to base. Importantly, our client will be eligible for his military retirement.

Military law

United States v. Air Force E-7

N/A

OUTCOME: Retirement Saved

Osan AFB, Korea: Air Force E-7 â€“ June 2011 Charges: Resisting apprehension, Assault on a commissioned officer (x3), Drunk and disorderly conduct. Maximum Sentence: Dishonorable Discharge, 10 ... years and six months in confinement, total forfeitures, reduction to E-1, Federal felony conviction, Loss of military retirement. The allegations in this case surround misconduct on an ITT sponsored wine tasting tour around Korea. Our client, a male Air Force MstSgt with 18 years of service, became heavily intoxicated after drinking too much wine and got into an altercation with two Air Force officers on the bus ride home while suffering from an alcohol induced blackout. Unfortunately for our client, this altercation lead to him punching the chief of justice (female and senior prosecutor at Osan, AFB) in the face, assaulting a registered nurse who was attempting to break up the fight, and then resisting apprehension when OSI agents attempted to arrest him as the bus arrived at Osan, AFB. This was a very difficult case from the onset, beyond the fact that the victim was a female, an officer and the senior prosecutor at Osan, AFB, there were nearly a dozen witnesses who saw the altercation. Even against the odds, we refused to roll over and plea the case. After interviewing all of the witnesses and conducting a thorough Article 32 hearing, the defense learned that the senior prosecutor might have actually started the fight and assaulted our client first, after losing her temper and yelling at our client. This provided not only provided us with a self-defense claim but also a divestiture defense against the senior prosecutor (that she divested herself of her rank because of her actions). To further this defense, we had an expert in pharmacology brought on as a member of the defense team to testify regarding the affects of alcohol in order to negate the specific intent aspects of the charges. This case ultimately went to trial in front of a jury and we utilized the self-defense defense, divestiture and also alleged that the OSI agents used excessive force on our client when arresting him (they broke out his front two teeth). At the end of a week long trial, our client was found not guilty of resisting arrest, not guilty of assault on a commissioned officer (the chief of justice), but guilty to the lesser included offense of assault consummated by battery, drunk and disorderly conduct and the assault on the registered nurse who was attempting to break up the fight. During the sentencing portion of the trial, we assembled extensive materials in extenuation and mitigation in order to save our clientâ€™s retirement. The government asked for extensive confinement and a dishonorable discharge. Based on the evidence we put on at trial and the sentencing case, the panel only sentenced our client to a two-grade reduction and 30 days confinement. No punitive discharge was given and our client will be permitted to retire. By trying this case and litigating to mitigate, we were able to save this senior NCOâ€™s retirement, which was calculated to have a value of over one million dollars.

Military law

United States v Marine E-4

N/A

OUTCOME: Time Served

Camp Foster, Okinawa, Japan: Marine E-4 â€“ June 2011 Charges: Possession of Spice, Distribution of Spice, Possession with intent to distribute Ecstasy, Attempted possession of â€œLiquid Ecstasy,â€ ... Attempted distribution of â€œLiquid Ecstasy,â€ Larceny of government funds Maximum Sentence: Dishonorable Discharge, 30 years in confinement, total forfeitures, reduction to E-1, Federal felony drug conviction. Our client was alleged to be a leader in the Spice and Liquid Ecstasy â€œliquidsâ€ trade among Marines in Okinawa, Japan. He was set up by one of his clients who flipped and became an undercover informant for NCIS and set up a controlled buy. After the controlled buy, our clientâ€™s house was searched and a large amount of Spice was found in his possession. After the being set up by his friends who were wearing wires, a controlled buy and seizure of a large amount of Spice, our client sealed his fate by providing a corroborated full confession to NCIS that was video taped. The Spice was later sent to the United States Army Criminal Investigative Laboratory (USACIL) for testing and came back positive for JWH-018 (now a schedule I controlled substance). Our law firm was brought in to do damage control and secure the best deal possible for our Marine client. Through a tough negotiation process and consistently leveraging our willingness to simply try the case, we obtained an outstanding Pre-Trial Agreement which amounted to a time served deal.

Military law

United States v. Army E-5

N/A

OUTCOME: Full Acquittal

Schofield Barracks, Hawaii: Army E-5 â€“ May 2011 Charges: Rape, Assault Consummated by Battery, Assault on a Minor Maximum Sentence: Dishonorable Discharge, Life in confinement, total forfeitures ... , reduction to E-1, Federal felony conviction, Sex offender registration FULL ACQUITTAL. In yet another case involving a full confession, Mr. Bilecki and Mrs. Hyatt won a full acquittal for their client. Our client was charged with abusing his children and raping his wife, the latter charge he confessed to during a CID interrogation. In order to help ensure a conviction, the Army brought in its Special Victim Prosecutor to try the case. Undaunted, we utilized our in house paralegal/investigator to conduct an independent investigation of the case, including obtaining as much information we could on the alleged victim in this case to discover her motives for making the allegation and then use them against her in trial. At trial, Mrs. Hyatt conducted a grueling cross examination of the alleged victim, which we believe showed that she likely fabricated her allegation in order to gain leverage against our client in an upcoming divorce in which child custody was a hotly contested issue. In order to win the trial, we had to take on the written and audio taped â€œconfessionâ€ head on. Mr. Bilecki did what he does best, cross examined the law enforcement officer who took the confession and was able to get him to admit that our client spent the vast majority of the interrogation proclaiming his innocence until he finally relented to the will of law enforcement, broke down and gave a â€œconfession.â€ After nearly a week of trial, the panel came back with a verdict of Not Guilty of All Charges and Specifications.

Military law

United States v. Army E-4

N/A

OUTCOME: FULL ACQUITTAL

Schofield Barracks, Hawaii: Army E-4 May 2011 Charges: False Official Statement (x3) Maximum Sentence: Bad Conduct Discharge, 15 years confinement, total forfeitures, reduction to E-1, Feder ... al felony conviction FULL ACQUITTAL. In another full acquittal involving a â€œconfession,â€ Our client was initially investigated for larceny of over $30,000 of government funds for allegedly defrauding Child and Youth Service (military daycare) by claiming that she was single when she was legally married, which put her in a lower fee schedule. This matter was brought to light after her estranged husband made an allegation to the command that his wife was defrauding the government. The case was then investigated by CID who interviewed our client and obtained a written and audio taped â€œconfessionâ€ from our client. Based on this â€œconfession,â€ the military put a $30,000+ debt on the Soldierâ€™s account, presumed her guilty and charged her under the UCMJ. Working with military counsel on this case, we conducted our own thorough investigation and determined that our clientâ€™s husband was a deadbeat who abused our client, abandoned her and her children and provided absolutely no financial support. We found supporting witnesses and evidence and used this to have the entire debt removed from our clientâ€™s account because while married on paper, she was, in reality, single. Even after having the debt removed, the government we unrelenting in its mission to prosecute our client and took here to a court martial. At trial, we undertook a crushing cross-examination of the law enforcement agent who took the â€œconfessionâ€ and turned his tactics against him, showing that coercive nature of the confession. We also showed in court that this was an overzealous prosecution of a single Soldier trying to raise her children and deal with a deadbeat, abusive usband. In the end, the jury came back with a FULL ACQUITTAL, not guilty of the charge and its specifications.

Military law

United States v. E-3

N/A

OUTCOME: Favorable Pre-Trial Agreement

MCAS Kaneohe Bay, Hawaii: E-3 – April 2011 Charges: Conspiracy, Counterfeiting US currency x7, use of methamphetamines x3, trafficking of cocaine, distribution of cocaine, distribution of methamphet ... amines, distribution of Ecstasy Maximum Sentence: DD, 235 years confinement, total forfeiture, reduction to E-1, Federal felony drug conviction Our client was charged (under the UCMJ) with the extremely serious offenses of drug trafficking, conspiracy, and uttering counterfeit currency for a criminal enterprise alleged to have counterfeited over $100,000 in currency that was laundered through various consumer establishments and adult entertainment nightclubs in Hawaii. This case came about after a lengthy federal investigation, a joint effort by the FBI and Secret Service that utilized wire taps, undercover surveillance, and confidential informants. The goal was to ferret out a massive criminal enterprise involving the production and uttering of counterfeit US currency as well as related drug trafficking. As our client was initially facing a federal indictment with double-digit mandatory minimums, one of our main goals in this case was ensuring that the client was charged in the military system, not by the US Attorney’s office. We were able to meet that goal through the client’s substantial cooperation with the Secret Service and NCIS. However, even after the Marine Corps brought charges against our client, the military prosecutors still sought an extensive period of confinement. We fought the charges on the military side and filed voluminous motions to suppress the nearly 30 hours of recorded interrogations of our client. Based in part on our extensive motions practice and our unrelenting pressure to try the case in what would have likely been a multiple-week, incredibly expensive trial, the government relented and offered us the almost unbelievable deal of 18 months confinement (the client was facing 235 years under the UCMJ). We entered into the pre-trial agreement, and our client received the 18 months of confinement instead of the 12+ years in Federal confinement he likely would have been sentenced to if he had been indicted by the US Attorney's Office.

Military law

United States v. E-5

N/A

OUTCOME: Not Guilty of all charges and specifications except a portion of the Family Separation Allowance charge

Camp Humphreys, Korea: E-5 – March 2011 Charges: Larceny of Government funds (BAH, OHA, FSA), False Official Statement x7, Fraud x2 Maximum Sentence: DD, 55 years confinement, total forfeiture, r ... eduction to E-1, fine, Federal felony conviction Our client was charged with nearly $30,000 in fraud for allegedly obtaining Basic Allowance for Housing, Overseas Housing Allowance, and Family Separation Allowance by claiming that her husband was residing in Brooklyn, NY, while the government claimed that her husband not only did not live in NY but also did not exist. Based on discrepancies in various financial documents reviewed during an audit, the government and law enforcement conducted an exhaustive investigation into the actual whereabouts of our client’s husband, a third-country national from Trinidad who was neither located nor verified as a legal US (or other) citizen. Although this case initially looked almost impossible to win, we demanded a jury trial and tenaciously fought all of the charges with hard-hitting attorney CPT Felix Onyango. We also kept the majority of the CID’s investigation out of evidence. After a nearly week-long trial, the client was found not guilty of all charges and specifications except a portion of the Family Separation Allowance charge. She received only 120 days of the possible 55 years in confinement.

Military law

United States v. E-6

N/A

OUTCOME: No Charges Preferred

Camp Casey, Korea: E-6 – March 2011 Charges: Violation of a Lawful Order from an NCO, Violation of a Lawful Order, Dereliction of Duty Maximum Sentence: DD, 1 year and 9 months confinement, total ... forfeitures, reduction to E-1, Federal felony conviction Our client was a Soldier initially charged with violating multiple lawful orders by not PCS’ing to her new duty assignment. This case involved competing orders regarding the date and location of the PCS as well as the approval of extension orders. The Bilecki Law Group was retained early on and, through advocating with the government trial counsel, was able to keep this case at the administrative level and Special or General Court-Martial. The charges were never preferred against our client.

Military law

United States v. E-6

N/A

OUTCOME: All BAH fraud charges were withdrawn and dismissed by the government. The client was found not guilty of all remaining charges except the violation of the lawful order

Wiesbaden, Germany: E-6 – February 2011 Charges: Larceny of Government Funds (BAH), False Official Statement, Disrespect, Violation of a Lawful Order Maximum Sentence: DD, 26 years confinement, ... total forfeiture, reduction to E-1, fine, Federal felony conviction The client was charged with BAH fraud, filling out false start/stop BAH forms, disrespecting her company commander, and violating a lawful order to stay out of her ex-husband’s quarters. Our client had discovered that the man she believed to be her husband (who was abusive towards her) had divorced her without her knowledge and remarried another woman back in the US. Upon learning this, the client sought to move out of the government quarters she shared with her now ex-husband and take her kids with her. However, the commander would not allow her to move her children off-post, instead mandating that they remain with the abusive husband (one child was not even the husband’s biological child). The commander ordered our client to stay out of her former on-post quarters and made no provisions for her to see her children. After learning that her young children were being left overnight with no supervision, our client went to her former quarters to check on the well-being of her children, which incited the charge of violation of a lawful order. When the client told her commander that she would do what she had to do when it came to her children, she was further charged with disrespect. After documenting numerous instances of abuse by the ex-husband (which the commander did nothing about), our client did everything possible to move her children back to the States to the safety of her family. She obtained Early Return of Dependent orders, then filled out the necessary BAH start/stop forms for her children, listing the location she intended for them to reside at. However, before she was able to move the children, the ex-husband absconded with the children to a different location in the States. Notwithstanding that there was never an intent to defraud the government, that our client was only acting as a mother protecting her children, and that she received only one month of unnecessary BAH at the address in question, the government charged her with BAH Fraud. With the assistance of Senior Defense Counsel MAJ Andy Bishop, we fought this case with a vengeance, contesting all charges and specifications at a fully contested jury trial which lasted nearly one week. Halfway through the trial, exculpatory evidence was discovered, and we made a motion for a mistrial for failure of the government to turn over Brady material. While the motion for mistrial was denied, all BAH fraud charges were withdrawn and dismissed by the government. The client was found not guilty of all remaining charges except the violation of the lawful order. The government requested the maximum sentence, but our client received only a one-grade reduction and hard labor without confinement for 60 days.

Military law

US v. Army E-5

N/A

OUTCOME: FULL ACQUITTAL

June 2013 Schofield Barracks, HI Army E-5 Charges: Male on Male Sexual Assault This case represents a prime example of how Judge Advocates, Commanders and Convening Authorities often lack the b ... ackbone to challenge bogus claims of sexual assault refuse to prosecute baseless allegations. This case began with a patently false allegation. After the alleged victim falsely alleged that Mr. Bilecki’s client had sexually assaulted him and was the unwilling recipient of gay anal sex, charges were preferred against the accused. After charges were preferred and evidence collected, DNA was collected and sent to the lab for testing. The results showed that the alleged victim’s semen was found in the accused anus! The astounding DNA lab results proved that it was actually the “victim” that was the aggressor, rather someone who was drunk, passed and had anal sex forced upon him by another man. The DNA results made it clear, the “victim” had sodomized our client, who was likely the one who was drunk and victimized. Despite the overwhelming forensic evidence that destroyed the government’s case, the “victim’s” credibility and the integrity of the government’s charging decision, the prosecutors marched blindly forward and took the case to trial. The government denied Mr. Bilecki’s request for a defense DNA expert, even though they flew their own expert out to the trial from Georgia to try to explain the findings. Fortunately, our client had the financial resources to retain one of the nation’s leading DNA experts to assist the defense and confirm the findings. Instead of accepting the fact that our client was falsely accused and wrongfully charged, the prosecution changed their case theory. They now claimed: • The “victim” was straight, notwithstanding that he and the accused were watching gay porn together in the barracks room moments before the sex occurred. • The alleged victim passed out on our client’s bed, drunk from consuming three beers. • Our client was able to take off the “victim’s” pants and underwear, masturbate the alleged victim until he obtained an erection, and then place the alleged victim’s erect penis into his anus without waking the alleged victim. • Then, remarkably, the prosecution claimed that the accused was able to continue anal sex from the above position until the alleged victim ejaculated into the accused anus, which woke the alleged victim from his three-beer drunken stupor. The case was so ridiculous it wouldn’t pass the laugh test, but the government still went forward to trial with their theory, thinking, or hoping, that it would explain how the alleged victim’s semen was found in the accused’s anus. Despite this incredulous madness, the defense was steadfast in its investigation of the “victim” and obtained forensic data from the alleged victim’s cellular phone, including quite a bit of homosexual pictures. The call record showed that he was making phone calls and texting the entire night, even after the time he claimed he was passed out drunk from three beers. Mr. Bilecki, relentless throughout the trial, exposed both the alleged victim as a liar, and the government as biased abusers of the accused’s constitutional rights for taking a case to trial that should have never seen the inside of a courtroom. The military jury saw right through the government’s case and acquitted Mr. Bilecki’s client of all charges and specifications.