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Timothy James Bilecki's Legal Cases (543)

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Military law

Bilecki Closes Article 120 GCM at Cannon AFB with Charges Withdrawn and Dismissed After Article 32; General (UHC) Discharge

Sep 13, 2024

OUTCOME: All preferred charges withdrawn and dismissed after Article 32. Airman separated General (Under Honorable Conditions). No court martial. No SORNA.

This was an Air Force Staff Sergeant at Cannon AFB facing a referred general court martial on Article 120 sexual assault, Article 120 abusive sexual contact, and Article 134 extramarital sexual conduct ... . Maximum exposure on a referred Article 120 sexual assault conviction at GCM: years of confinement, mandatory Dishonorable Discharge, federal felony record, and Tier III federal sex offender registration. The Government's case on the lead specification was that on a December 2020 night in Clovis, NM, our client had penetrated a fellow Airman without consent at his apartment. The alleged victim and our client had met during a two-week deployment turnover in Afghanistan the prior year. The two had been drinking heavily on the night in question. The alleged victim had no specific memory of penetration. She woke up the next morning next to our client and described vaginal soreness and a tampon pushed inside. She filed a restricted report in spring 2022. The two AFOSI Final ROIs were issued in late 2023. Charges were preferred in August 2023. Our client retained Bilecki at the AFOSI investigation stage. At the Article 32, the alleged victim declined to testify. The PHO had to evaluate the sexual assault and extramarital specifications on the documentary record: the AFOSI ROIs, the alleged victim's restricted report, the timeline gaps, and the defense submission. The defense walked the PHO through the documentary problems with both specifications. The Article 32 PHO Report recommended withdrawing and dismissing the Article 120 sexual assault specification and the Article 134 extramarital specification. The Government then withdrew and dismissed all preferred charges in April 2024. Broader than the PHO recommendation. The administrative track did not stop with the withdrawal and dismissal. The Squadron Commander issued a Letter of Reprimand; an administrative discharge under DAFI 36-3211 was initiated. The defense submitted a Senior Defense Counsel Memorandum to the Squadron Commander asserting the LOR was legally insufficient under DAFI 36-2907 because the Government's case did not survive the preponderance standard the PHO had already weighed. The defense then filed a Conditional Waiver of Discharge Board contingent on at least General (Under Honorable Conditions) characterization. The conditional waiver was accepted. Our client separated General (Under Honorable Conditions).

Military law

Bilecki Closes NCIS Online Sting on Marine Corporal at MCBH Without Court Martial

Aug 23, 2024

OUTCOME: NJP on single Article 80 attempt-to-patronize specification. AdSep at General (Under Honorable Conditions). No court martial. No federal conviction. No federal sex offender registration.

This was a Marine Corporal at MCBH Kaneohe Bay caught up in an NCIS proactive online sting in which an undercover decoy posed as a minor. Maximum exposure on the three Article 80 attempt-against-a-mino ... r specifications NCIS had built: a referred special court martial, federal felony record, a punitive discharge, and Tier III federal sex offender registration. The escort advertisement our client had responded to listed the provider's age as twenty-six. To open the ad, our client had to confirm he was over eighteen on the platform's verification page. The undercover agent's chat log only began dropping minor age representations after our client was already engaged with the ad. Our client retained Bilecki the same week NCIS opened the investigation. We pulled the screenshots of the ad, the age listed at twenty-six, and the verification page our client had cleared, and put all of it in front of the Squadron Commander before any charging decision. The Squadron Commander reviewed the package. He said he was prepared to refer the case to a special court martial on the original Article 80 attempt-against-a-minor specifications. He also offered a Disposition Agreement as an alternative. For a Marine Corporal at MCBH Kaneohe Bay caught in an NCIS online sting with three Article 80 attempted-conduct-against-a-minor specifications staring at him, punitive discharge exposure on referral, federal felony record, and Tier III federal sex offender registration on the line, those three specifications and the SORNA registration were the actual exposure. None of it materialized.

Military law

Bilecki Walks Article 92 Sexual Harassment Disposition Cascade Off the Track for Florida ARNG 1SG

Aug 09, 2024

OUTCOME: Article 15 refused. Summary Court-Martial withdrawn on R.C.M. 1303 objection. GOMOR withdrawn. No court-martial.

A Florida Army National Guard First Sergeant on Operation Lone Star border mission rotation was facing an AR 15-6 substantiated sexual harassment finding, an Article 15, a Summary Court-Martial, and a ... GOMOR. In that order. Maximum exposure across the disposition cascade: court-martial conviction with federal felony record, AMHRR-filed GOMOR ending the senior NCO's career at the next promotion board, and AR 135-178 administrative separation with an Other Than Honorable characterization. The Government's case was built on an AR 15-6 investigation under AR 600-20 paragraph 7-7 with a substantiated finding of unwanted touching of a junior Specialist's shoulder and underwear waistband during a Whataburger run in a Government Chrysler Pacifica. The Investigating Officer recommended a court-martial and an administrative separation. Our client was never interviewed and was never read his Article 31(b) rights during the AR 15-6. Our client retained Bilecki shortly after the AdSep notification. We ran the disposition cascade backward. The rebuttal collapsed the underlying allegation. We submitted a top-down diagram of the Government Chrysler Pacifica showing that the alleged groping of a junior Specialist in a middle-row captain's chair from across the center console was physically implausible. We surfaced the alleged victim's own conduct on the documentary record, including her own OnlyFans presence under a public handle and a prior unrelated sexual misconduct allegation she had made against a different Soldier. We surfaced that the alleged victim had never produced a sworn statement to the AR 15-6 Investigating Officer. We surfaced an MFR from the alleged victim's MSG that documented command coddling of the accuser while denying our client his Article 31(b) rights, a DoD 7050.06 whistleblower posture concern. Character statements from a Company Commander and other officers and senior NCOs in the unit corroborated our client's leadership record across multiple NCOERs. For a Florida Army National Guard First Sergeant who walked into the case with an AR 15-6 substantiated sexual harassment finding, an Article 15 in his face, a Summary Court-Martial referral pending, and an AMHRR GOMOR with AR 135-178 elimination on the back end, that was a different ending than the one the Government was driving toward.

Military law

Bilecki Closes Article 128b Strangulation OSTC Investigation on Marine 1stLt in Okinawa with OSTC Deferral

Jul 19, 2024

OUTCOME: OSTC deferred. No charges preferred. No adverse action.

A Marine First Lieutenant in Okinawa was under an active investigation for Article 128b domestic violence on a strangulation theory and Article 133 conduct unbecoming an officer, with the matter routed ... through the Office of Special Trial Counsel Pacific as a covered offense. Maximum exposure on a referred Article 128b strangulation conviction at court-martial: Dismissal, up to eight years confinement, total forfeitures, federal felony record, and end of commission. Our client retained Bilecki at the investigation stage, before any preferral. OSTC deferred the case. For a Marine First Lieutenant in Okinawa with an Article 128b strangulation theory on the table, OSTC running the disposition decision, Dismissal exposure on conviction, and the commission on the line, that was a different ending than the one the Government was driving toward.

Military law

Bilecki Closes CID Sexual Assault and Strangulation Case on Army PFC Without Charges

Jul 19, 2024

OUTCOME: No charges preferred on Article 120 or Article 128b. Resolved at single Article 134 extramarital conduct NJP. No court martial. No SORNA. No administrative separation. Soldier retained.

This was an Army Private First Class at Fort Johnson under a CID investigation that titled Article 120 sexual assault and Article 128b strangulation arising from a documented threesome encounter with t ... he civilian spouse of a fellow Soldier. Maximum exposure on referred Article 120 and Article 128b charges: years of confinement, mandatory Dishonorable Discharge on the Article 120 sexual assault theory, federal sex offender registration, and federal felony record. Our client retained Bilecki at the investigation stage, days after the CID polygraph and before any disposition decision. The encounter had been initiated by her. She had directed the position throughout, including the choking she preferred. She had invited our client back to a friend's house in the days following the encounter. Her own conduct, on the record, was not consistent with a non-consensual encounter and was not consistent with the strangulation theory CID had built. The defense surfaced that record to OSTC trial counsel before the disposition decision was made. For an Army Private First Class at Fort Johnson with CID Article 120 sexual assault and Article 128b strangulation titlings on the table, mandatory dishonorable discharge exposure on referral, and federal sex offender registration on conviction, the Article 120 / Article 128b conviction track and the SORNA registration were the actual exposure. Neither materialized.

Military law

Bilecki Prevents Article 120 Referral at NSA Naples; Sailor Retained Honorably

Jul 19, 2024

OUTCOME: OSTC declined court martial referral. AdSep board never convened. Largo PD case dismissed. Sailor retained Honorable.

This was a Navy Air Traffic Controller Second Class at NSA Naples staring down three tracks at once. An Article 120 sexual assault investigation routed through the Office of Special Trial Counsel as a ... covered offense. An Other Than Honorable administrative separation queued up behind the OSTC track. And a parallel Florida civilian sexual battery charge filed by Largo Police Department in Pinellas County. Worst case across the tracks: years of confinement on a referred court martial, mandatory dismissal, federal sex offender registration, and an OTH separation from the Navy. The case was thin and the Government had time on its side. The complainant reported to Largo PD in February 2023, six months after the alleged conduct on a night in August 2022. Largo PD transmitted its report to NCIS that summer. NCIS opened a joint reactive investigation. The case routed to NCIS Naples in August 2023 when our client PCS'd to Italy. By the time the Government's case was ready to move, the night was more than a year and a half in the rearview. Our client retained Bilecki at the investigation stage, before any charging decision. The defense had two pieces that ran together. The first piece was the wrong man story. Our client's account from the start was that he had not gone back to the apartment that night. His denial under Article 31 was clean and consistent. The documentary record of the night did not place him where the alleged victim said he was. The second piece was the Government's hearsay problem. The Government's case was that on the night in question our client had digitally penetrated a civilian woman who was asleep on a living room air mattress in the apartment of a fellow Sailor's friend. The only Sailor purportedly present was a fellow shipmate from the carrier who admitted he had passed out at some point in the night. What the Government had from him was not what he saw. It was what the alleged victim told him the next morning. That is hearsay. That is not a percipient corroborating witness. We submitted a defense package to OSTC Pacific surfacing the wrong man account, the hearsay problem in the Government's only corroborating witness, the six month delay in the alleged victim's first report, and the documentary record of the night that did not place our client where she said he was. OSTC declined court martial referral. That was the headline outcome. It also collapsed the rest of the field. The Convening Authority then routed the matter to administrative separation. We surfaced the procedural posture of the AdSep notice in front of the Convening Authority's legal officer. In July 2024, government counsel re-noticed the separation under MILPERSMAN 1910-130 (Erroneous Enlistment), which carries no entitlement to a board and an Honorable characterization at separation. The board never convened. The Sailor walked out under Honorable. The Largo Police Department civilian case was dismissed. For a Navy E-5 at NSA Naples with an OSTC covered offense referral on the table, an OTH AdSep queued behind it, and a parallel state sexual battery charge running in Florida, that was a different ending than the one the Government was driving toward.

Military law

Bilecki Closes AR 15-6 Counterproductive Leadership Investigation on Reserve MAJ in Orlando With No Adverse Action

Jun 28, 2024

OUTCOME: No adverse action. No GOMOR. No OER referral. No AdSep. No Board of Inquiry.

This was a Major in the U.S. Army Reserve serving as Chief of Mobilization & Readiness at a Reserve Sustainment Command in Orlando, facing an AR 15-6 administrative investigation that had returned subs ... tantiated findings on counterproductive leadership, dereliction of duty in mobilization and CRE funding, inappropriate comments to a junior officer, and failure to treat a peer Major with dignity and respect. For an O-4 Reserve officer, an adverse action package built on substantiated counterproductive leadership findings runs to GOMOR, OER referral, and Show Cause Board exposure. The investigation had a context the AR 15-6 file did not put in front of the disposition authority. Our client had filed an IG complaint against the higher Theater Sustainment Command in late September 2023 over the absence of authoritative mobilization and CRE documents. The IG closed that complaint in May 2024 as a substantiated assistance inquiry: the IG had obtained the missing documents and acknowledged the gap our client had flagged. Five weeks later, the AR 15-6 substantiating findings against our client were issued. The defense AR 15-6 Rebuttal went in early July 2024. It was drafted and signed by Ben Gold of BLG. The rebuttal had two parallel tracks. The reprisal track surfaced the IG complaint, the IG's May 2024 substantiation, and the timing of the AR 15-6 against our client following weeks later. The substantive accounts of the alleged conduct came from the same higher headquarters officers our client's IG complaint had questioned. The substantive flip was a defense supplemental investigation. Defense interviewed twenty-one named witnesses across the chain. The witness record put the peer Major on the documentary record for ad hoc workarounds outside her chartered authority, unauthorized vehicle transfers, and ADOS funding requests for non CRE personnel she worked civilian side with. The "counterproductive leadership" the AR 15-6 had attached to our client was, on the defense record, the peer Major's own conduct, surfaced for the first time at the disposition stage. No adverse action followed. No GOMOR. No OER referral. No administrative separation. No Board of Inquiry.

Military law

Bilecki Closes Article 117a OSTC Investigation on Army SPC in Italy via Talk-Versus-Action Distinction

Jun 28, 2024

OUTCOME: OSTC deferred. No charges preferred. No adverse action.

An Army Specialist stationed in Italy was under an active Article 117a investigation, with the matter routed through the Office of Special Trial Counsel as a covered offense. Maximum exposure on the do ... cumented allegation: years of confinement, a punitive discharge, and a federal felony record on conviction. Our client retained Bilecki at the investigation stage, before any preferral. The chat record had language that read like distribution on the surface. Claims about videos. Claims about identifying a third woman. Claims about having sent material. We pulled the chat record apart. Article 117a wrongful broadcast and wrongful distribution require proof of an actual completed transmission of intimate visual images to a third party. Talk about distribution, threats of distribution, and references to videos in chat logs are not the same as a completed outbound distribution. The defense investigation surfaced what the chat record did not show: a single completed outbound distribution to any actual third party. There was no NCMEC tip. There was no recipient identified in the chats. There was no metadata establishing transmission to anyone outside the alleged victim and our client. We also surfaced the alleged victim's own motive context. We organized the WhatsApp and Instagram chat exports, the contact attempt log, and the talk-versus-action distinction into a submission to OSTC trial counsel. OSTC deferred the case. No subsequent action followed the deferral. For an Army Specialist in Italy with an OSTC-routed Article 117a covered offense in motion, federal felony exposure on conviction, and chat-record language that read like distribution on the surface, that was a different ending than the one the Government was driving toward.

Military law

Night of Drinking Ends in Motel and Sex Assault Allegations, Bilecki Exposes Lie

May 31, 2024

OUTCOME: Night of Drinking Ends in Motel and Sex Assault Allegations, Bilecki Exposes Lie

The nightlife in the “Nonch” bar area outside Yokosuka Naval Base set the stage for an incident involving a Navy Petty Officer Third Class. After a night of drinking, the Petty Officer, and a junior Sa ... ilor, also intoxicated, left together for a “love-motel” where they engaged in sexual activities. The next day, inquiries about their night led the junior Sailor to allege sexual assault. An investigation was launched, prompting the Petty Officer to retain Bilecki Law Group. Court martial lawyer Tim Bilecki traveled to Yokosuka, conducting a thorough investigation that include interviews with Sailors present that night and securing evidence from the love motel, such as receipts and video footage of the Sailors entering and exiting the motel. Armed with compelling evidence gathered from their independent investigation, Bilecki’s team presented their findings to the government. This evidence challenged the narrative of non-consent and played a crucial role in the prosecution’s decision not to present court martial charges against the Petty Officer.

Military law

Bumble Hookup Gets Army SGT into Trouble, Bilecki Has Charges Disposed

May 31, 2024

OUTCOME: However, the charges were never referred to trial because the complainant withdrew her participation, likely due to the defense’s efforts at the Article 32 hearing, and the case was disposed of administratively.

In a case of a Bumble hookup gone horribly wrong, an Army Sergeant found himself under investigation and later charged at a court martial for sexual assault. The accusation arose after he met a woman o ... n Bumble; they went out to dinner, had drinks, and went back to her place and had sex. The Sergeant left her apartment while she was asleep and ghosted her after that, despite her continuing to contact him. When she finally realized that he was never going to call her again, she alleged that the event was sexual assault. The Sergeant had sexual assault charges preferred against him at a general court martial, and he then retained military sexual assault defense attorney Tim Bilecki, who immediately commenced a thorough investigation. Our read on the case was clear: the complainant likely fabricated the accusation, ostensibly due to being upset over the Sergeant’s departure and lack of further communication post-encounter. The case proceeded to the Article 32 preliminary hearing. At the hearing, we presented a defense based on consent and mistake of fact as to consent, as well as the motive to fabricate, stemming from our client ghosting the alleged victim after the encounter. While not the most gentlemanly action, it didn’t criminalize the encounter. The Article 32 Hearing Officer concluded that while the case would likely not result in a conviction, it met the low standard of probable cause. However, the charges were never referred to trial because the complainant withdrew her participation, likely due to the defense’s efforts at the Article 32 hearing, and the case was disposed of administratively.