Army SSG Charged with Evading a Juicy Bar Bill, Bilecki Rebuts
May 03, 2024
OUTCOME: Army SSG Charged with Evading a Juicy Bar Bill, Bilecki Rebuts
The case involved an Army Staff Sergeant stationed in Okinawa who faced allegations of larceny and a curfew violation after an incident at a “juicy bar” with a Senior First Class (SFC) friend. A misund...erstanding arose when a tab of over $600 escalated without his knowledge, leading to an accusation of not paying the bill. This prompted a criminal investigation.
The Staff Sergeant retained a military defense lawyer for UCMJ Article 121 larceny cases, Tim Bilecki, for legal representation. Bilecki’s investigation substantiated that the Staff Sergeant had no intention of evading the bill payment, though he did breach the curfew.
As a result, the Commanding General issued a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand (GOMOR). Bilecki prepared comprehensive rebuttal matters, which successfully argued for a revision of the GOMOR. The focus was shifted to acknowledge solely the curfew violation, removing the larceny allegation.
Military law
Bilecki Negotiates Pre-Trial Agreement for Soldier Entangled in Multiple Charges
May 03, 2024
OUTCOME: Bilecki Negotiates Pre-Trial Agreement for Soldier Entangled in Multiple Charges
An Army Private E-2 at Schofield Barracks faced court martial charges, including:
- AWOL (UCMJ Article 86),
- Disobeying an Officer (UCMJ Article 90),
- Drunk on Duty (UCMJ Article 112), and
...
- Malingering (UMCJ Article 115).
Complicating matters further were allegations of domestic violence by his wife.
The Soldier engaged a Hawaii court martial lawyer Timothy Bilecki to defend him. Through meticulous investigation and advocacy, the legal team was able to demonstrate that the accusations of malingering and domestic violence were unfounded. With these allegations discredited, the focus shifted to negotiating a pretrial agreement. The result was a Chapter 10 discharge, an administrative solution allowing for the withdrawal and dismissal of all charges in exchange for the Soldier’s separation from the Army.
Military law
Defense Brings In Evidence the Prosecution Can’t Ignore, No Charges Preferred
May 03, 2024
OUTCOME: So much so that when presented to military prosecutors, no charges were preferred against the Marine and allowed him to continue his career without impediment.
Patterns of behavior are often hard to ignore, and yet, when a pattern of behavior damages the military prosecution’s case, they will ignore it all the livelong day. Such was the case for a Marine stat...ioned at Camp Pendleton until veteran court martial defense attorney Tim Bilecki got involved. The Marine was resourceful, and upon hearing the allegations and knowing they were false, he got experienced counsel from across the country involved early.
Through Bilecki’s thorough investigation, they were able to discover the pattern of behavior and bring it into the light. So much so that when presented to military prosecutors, no charges were preferred against the Marine and allowed him to continue his career without impediment. The Marine had been falsely accused, and though the prosecution would have liked to never have seen the evidence, Bilecki put it forward in a manner that even they couldn’t ignore.
This quick win highlights the importance of getting competent representation involved early in the process. Military prosecutors are always on the hunt for a quick win, and when they see Bilecki involved, they know they have a fight on their hands. In many cases, military prosecutors determine that pursuing the case is just not worth it.
Don’t wait until the court martial. Don’t wait until charges are preferred. Don’t wait because you can be damn well certain the prosecution is seeking to take everything from you, and they started yesterday. This is particularly true when the charges revolve around sexual misconduct. You need to get ready for a fight, and getting Bilecki into that fight early saved this Marine’s career.
Military law
Bilecki Wins Dismissal of All Seven Article 120b Sexual Abuse of a Child Specifications at Fort Campbell GCM
Apr 26, 2024
OUTCOME: All seven Article 120b specifications dismissed. Plea limited to Article 128 spouse battery and Article 134 possession. Bad Conduct Discharge in lieu of mandatory Dishonorable Discharge.
This was an Army Sergeant First Class facing a referred general court martial on seven Article 120b sexual abuse of a child specifications charging conduct against the accused's own children across thr...ee duty stations and roughly four years, plus an Article 134 child pornography specification, an Article 80 attempts specification, an Article 131b obstruction specification, and an Article 128 spouse battery specification. Maximum exposure on the Article 120b specifications alone ran to life confinement, a mandatory Dishonorable Discharge, and Tier III lifetime federal sex offender registration. The Article 32 PHO had found probable cause on every charge and specification and recommended general court martial.
Our client retained Bilecki at the Article 32 stage. Detailed military defense counsel and Ben Gold worked the case with Bilecki.
The defense moved on the lab work the Government's case rested on. Defense DNA expert Dean Wideman walked through the USACIL examiner's report, which excluded our client from the DNA mixture on the relevant garment evidence. CID had reportedly told the spouse the lab matched our client. The lab report did not say that. The defense had the documentary record on the discrepancy and put it in front of the Government before plea negotiations opened.
Defense digital forensic examiner William Oettinger took apart the device evidence the Article 134 specification was built on. The CSAM the Government tied to the case lived on two computers and contained no images of the alleged victims. The family external hard drive, the thumb drives, and the SD card the Government had treated as predicate evidence were clean.
Defense child forensic psychologist Danielle Levy, Psy.D., went to the recorded forensic interviews of the children at the Tennessee child advocacy center on the suggestibility, leading-question, and disclosure-narrative grounds the case file showed. Defense forensic psychiatrist David E. Johnson, M.D., COL (Ret.) USA, a Walter Reed-trained forensic psychiatrist, went to the alleged-pornography-interest theory the Government planned to argue at sentencing.
The defense filed Motion in Limine practice on five tranches of uncharged misconduct under M.R.E. 404(b), a Bill of Particulars motion targeting the date imprecision on the Article 120b specifications spanning multi-year windows, and a reply asserting marital communications privilege under M.R.E. 504 over the alleged obstruction conversation.
Tim Bilecki traveled to Fort Campbell, Kentucky for the contested motions and the sentencing hearing.
The sentencing hearing was held in mid-April 2024, military judge alone. Dr. Levy and Dr. Johnson testified at sentencing.
For an Army Sergeant First Class on a seven-specification Article 120b charge sheet alleging sexual abuse of his own children across three duty stations, with life confinement exposure, a mandatory Dishonorable Discharge ceiling, and Tier III lifetime federal sex offender registration on conviction, the seven Article 120b convictions and the SORNA Tier III registration were the actual exposure. None of it materialized.
OUTCOME: The Sailor was criminally charged with sexual assault, and no action whatsoever was taken against the married female Marine.
A Navy Corpsman stationed in Okinawa was charged with sexually assaulting a female Marine on the couch of the barrack’s dayroom after a night of drinking and partying in Naha, Okinawa.
The alleged v...ictim was married at the time to another Marine, and when it appeared she might get caught by her husband or by the Marine Corps, she claimed that she was sexually assaulted by the Corpsman.
This is another case where a young service member thought he could talk his way out of trouble by giving his side of the story to NCIS, believing they actually cared about finding the truth.
The Corpsman submitted to an NCIS interrogation and made admissions to touching the alleged victim over her clothes after falling asleep on her lap while watching a movie. Regardless of the fact that there was no actual sex between the Corpsman and the alleged victim because she stated that she was intoxicated, it was all eyes on the accused and none on the accuser. The Sailor was criminally charged with sexual assault, and no action whatsoever was taken against the married female Marine.
Given the admissions made to NCIS, as well as the potential requirement to register as a sex offender if convicted at a court martial, Mr. Bilecki was able to negotiate a deal where the prosecution agreed to withdraw all of the charges against our client in exchange for a Summary Court Martial and an Administrative Separation Board waiver. This allowed our client to walk away from the charges and the Navy without a conviction or sex offender registration.
Military law
Marine Fast-Tracked for OTH Discharge for Hazing, Bilecki Gets Charges Dismissed
Apr 26, 2024
OUTCOME: Marine Fast-Tracked for OTH Discharge for Hazing, Bilecki Gets Charges Dismissed
Possibly second only to the military’s war on sexual assault, the Marine Corps and Army have recently taken an aggressive posture on hazing cases, as demonstrated by the fact that our office has defend...ed numerous courts martial for hazing in the first half of the year alone — winning all of those cases.
In this case, the government tried to get our client to sign a “fast track” disposition without having the Marine ever consult with an attorney. A “fast track,” as it is known in the Marine Corps, is when the command threatens to charge a Marine with a Special or General Court Martial but offers him a deal to send the charges to a Summary Court Martial if the Marine will agree to an administrative separation with an Other Thank Honorable (OTH) Discharge and plead guilty at a Summary Court Martial and receive 30 days in the brig.
Here, the commander and First Sergeant tried to strong-arm the Marine into taking a “fast track” while out in the field and unable to speak with an attorney. Our client used a cell phone in the field to contact Bilecki Law Group for a consultation. He was able to speak with attorney Tim Bilecki, and immediately and took pictures, using the iPhone, of the “fast track” letter as well as the charge sheet and sent those to Mr. Bilecki to review. The command refused to allow the Marine to see any of the evidence against him and tried to force him into a Summary Court Martial and OTH without ever looking at the evidence.
Mr. Bilecki started working the night we were retained and learned that the “hazing” simply involved the Marine using the butt of his rifle to wake up a Private First Class who was apparently sleeping while on guard duty while at the Mojave Viper exercise. It seemed beyond belief that the Marines would charge a Lance Corporal with hazing for waking up a junior Marine who was sleeping on guard duty. In a combat environment, someone falling asleep on guard duty would be lucky to only get awakened up with the butt of a rifle, but this Marine command consider this hazing.
Mr. Bilecki immediately contacted the chain of command and the prosecutor’s office and turned down the “fast track,” demanding a jury trial. Our office is still confident enough in the court martial process to believe that a panel of senior Marines would refuse to convict a fellow Marine for simply doing his duty, with or without the butt of a rifle. They are Marines, after all. After demanding a jury trial, the government waived the white flag and dropped all charges against our client. This Marine continued to proudly serve in the United States Marine Corps.
Military law
Bilecki Closes Article 120 OSTC Investigation on Army Major at Camp Humphreys with OSTC Deferral; No Charges, No Adverse Action
Apr 26, 2024
OUTCOME: OSTC deferred. No charges preferred. No adverse action.
An Army Major at Camp Humphreys was under an active Article 120 sexual assault investigation, with the case routed through the Office of Special Trial Counsel as a covered offense. Maximum exposure on ...a referred Article 120 charge sheet against an O-4: decades of confinement, mandatory Dismissal, federal felony record, federal sex offender registration, and the loss of the security clearance that runs an Army officer's career.
Our client retained Bilecki during the investigation, before any preferral.
The defense investigation pulled together the documentary motive context, the prior inconsistent statements, and the alleged victim credibility material the CID file had not captured. Bilecki engaged OSTC trial counsel directly by phone with that record on the table before the disposition decision was made.
OSTC deferred the case.
For an Army Major at Camp Humphreys with a covered-offense Article 120 sexual assault investigation in motion, OSTC running the disposition decision, and the commission, the security clearance, and the career on the line, that was a different ending than the one the Government was driving toward.
Military law
Full Acquittal in False Statements Case After Uncovering Coercive CID Tactics
Apr 19, 2024
OUTCOME: The jury, persuaded by Bilecki’s defense, acquitted the Staff Sergeant of all charges and specifications, granting a full acquittal.
At Camp Humphreys, Korea, an Army Staff Sergeant was charged at a general court martial with making false official statements and Basic Allowance for Housing (BAH) fraud. The allegations were rooted in... a confusion over entitlements under the Joint Travel Regulations (JTR), leading to a complex legal scenario with severe potential consequences, including dishonorable discharge, up to 15 years of confinement, total forfeiture of pay, reduction to E-1, a federal felony conviction, and loss of retirement benefits.
The case’s central evidence was a written confession obtained by the Army Criminal Investigation Division (CID). However, the defense, led by civilian defense counsel Mr. Tim Bilecki, challenged the authenticity and voluntariness of this confession. Bilecki’s strategy involved meticulous cross-examination of the CID agent responsible for obtaining the confession. This approach was critical in uncovering the potentially misleading and coercive tactics used during the interrogation process.
Bilecki argued that the confession was coerced, emphasizing that it misrepresented the events in the interrogation room and the Staff Sergeant’s understanding of the JTR. He highlighted the complexities of the JTR and the potential for misinterpretation, suggesting that the Staff Sergeant’s actions were not intentionally fraudulent but rather a result of confusion regarding the regulations.
The jury, persuaded by Bilecki’s defense, acquitted the Staff Sergeant of all charges and specifications, granting a full acquittal. This verdict not only cleared the Staff Sergeant’s name but also highlighted the need for clear communication and understanding of military regulations, as well as the importance of a robust legal defense in complex military justice cases.
OUTCOME: After a lengthy hearing, the board members unanimously found no serious misconduct and retained the Client in the Navy.
The Chief was accused of sexual assault after one of his subordinates made an allegation that he attempted to sexually assault her in his off-base quarters after a night of drinking in Itaewon, Korea.
...
To celebrate a successful joint exercise in Korea, the Chief, along with his OIC and several members of the unit, went out for dinner and drinks in Itaewon. Many of the individuals went to a Norebang (Korean karaoke) to continue drinking and having a good time.
Realizing that they were about to violate the 0100hrs USFK curfew, the Senior Chief invited several members of the group to stay at his off-post residence to avoid violating the curfew. At the house, they continued to drink, and one individual, the female E-5, gave mixed signals that she was sexually interested in the Chief. The Chief, in turn, made comments that he wanted to have sex with her. If there was ever an “eggshell victim” in a case, it was her.
Following advances made by the Senior Chief toward the alleged victim, who was the one initially giving mixed signals, she lost her composure, yelled at him and ran out of the house. The alleged victim called her then-boyfriend and relayed her account of the event, claiming that she was sexually harassed inappropriately by the Senior Chief.
In keeping with the “war on sexual assault” being waged by the military, the Command went out of its way to ensure that the Senior Chief, with seventeen years of outstanding service, would be charged, convicted and thrown in prison.
When the Senior Chief realized the deck was stacked against him, he retained a court martial lawyer for Article 120 UCMJ sexual assault cases, Tim Bilecki. Unlike NCIS, we conducted a thorough investigation of the case. The investigation revealed that the alleged victim had a reputation for untruthfulness and exaggeration. Interviews also identified over a dozen witnesses who agreed to vouch for the Client’s character and duty performance.
After Mr. Bilecki challenged the Command with the evidence it obtained, the Command backed down, preferring not to commence with court martial charges. Instead, the Command took the Senior Chief to the Captain’s Mast (NJP / Art 15). Bilecki continued to fight and plead the case to the Command, but they were motivated more in making the Chief a statistic than they were in the truth. After the NJP, the corrupt Command referred the Senior Chief to an administrative separation board hearing, which was held in Yokosuka, Japan.
A relentless fighter, Mr. Bilecki represented the Senior Chief at the Administrative Separation Board to ensure the Client’s interests were represented fairly. Mr. Bilecki fearlessly exposed that the Client’s commander, an O-6 with DIA, violated a litany of the Client’s rights and committed unlawful command Influence by intimidating defense-friendly witnesses. After witnesses testified on the Client’s behalf at the NJP, they were called by the Command, who attempted to threaten and intimidate the witnesses supporting the Chief. These actions amounted to unlawful command influence and were patently illegal. Moreover, the O-6 was even caught altering official documents that pertained to the NJP, yet this also was not investigated.
Mr. Bilecki, relentless in the pursuit of justice, was given the opportunity to put all the facts before the board, from the exaggerating “victim” to the corrupt Command. Bilecki made it clear that he would continue to fight the false allegations against the Client.
After a lengthy hearing, the board members unanimously found no serious misconduct and retained the Client in the Navy. Following the extended and painful process, the Chief’s career and retirement were saved. While it was encouraging to see justice triumph, it was at the same time discouraging to know that Commanders who blatantly violated a subordinate’s legal rights and broke the law to convict a fellow Sailor are still serving with impunity.
Military law
Bilecki Negotiates Pre-Trial Agreement for Army E-4 Charged with Cocaine
Apr 12, 2024
OUTCOME: Bilecki Negotiates Pre-Trial Agreement for Army E-4 Charged with Cocaine
An Army Corporal’s urinalysis tested positive for cocaine, and he was subsequently charged with wrongful use of a controlled substance. Mr. Bilecki, a noted Article 112a UCMJ military drug defense lawy...er in Okinawa, worked with the Command and SJA to negotiate a pre-trial agreement in which the charges would be handled at the Article 15 level as opposed to a court martial.
