Maximum Sentence:
- Dishonorable Discharge
- 23 years confinement
- Total forfeiture
- Reduction to E-1
- Federal felony conviction
Facts:
An Army E-1 stationed at Camp Casey, Korea, faced serious allegations and was Initially charged at a general court martial with aggravated assault, communicating a threat, and violation of a general order for an incident involving an assault on a female soldier while intoxicated, the situation escalated further. He was accused of assaulting the same victim again, leading to additional charges.
Following the second incident, the government was dismissed the initial charges and then re-preferred both the old and new charges, necessitating a new Article 32 hearing. This procedural step was essential due to the post-referral status of the first set of charges.
While awaiting trial, the Soldier was placed in pre-trial confinement. During this period, the government attempted to use his confinement to leverage a guilty plea for the compounded charges. Attorney Tim Bilecki’s defense team, advocating for the Soldier, refused to succumb to this pressure. Instead, they demanded a speedy trial from the Convening Authority.
Despite the demand for a speedy trial, there was a substantial delay before the charges were re-referred. The Soldier spent over 15 weeks in pre-trial confinement. In response, Bilecki’s team filed a motion for a speedy trial directly with the military judge under Article 10 of the UCMJ.
At the hearing for this motion, the defense highlighted the government’s attempts to leverage pre-trial confinement into a guilty plea and their inaction in moving the case forward. The military judge acknowledged the unreasonable delay in the trial proceedings and granted the motion for a speedy trial. Consequently, all charges, including both the original and newly added ones, were dismissed with prejudice.
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