We say it often that you simply cannot coexist with a military justice system that is out to destroy you and this case proves that is true once again. It’s the story of an innocent Air Force officer and a fickle command who was hell bent on finding guilt in the man, innocence be damned. Thankfully, this Air Force officer retained UCMJ defense lawyer Tim Bilecki to fight on his behalf throughout one of the more bullshit cases that we had seen in a while.
It all kicked off when an anonymous tipster sent in an allegation that a Captain who was once stationed at Travis Air Force Base had attempted to divert a drug test by soliciting urine from a Senior Airman. Keep in mind that this allegation came in two years after the alleged incident took place. As such, the Captain was now at Kunsan Air Force Base minding his own business when the Office of Special Investigations walked in offering nothing but the presumption of guilt.
OSI then conducted what is perhaps one of the worst and garbage investigations that we had seen in a while, slapped a guilty sticker on our client’s forehead and called it a day. As usual, the team at Bilecki launched their own investigation and what we found made it crystal clear that our client was the victim of a campaign of retribution.
You see, the anonymous tipster wasn’t really anonymous at all. He was a former pharmacist at the hospital that was previously fired by the Captain for poor duty performance. The pharmacist tipster had his own checkered past which included a previously revoked license and was simply out for retribution. It’s a connection that anyone could have seen if they were looking for the truth.
Perhaps realizing that Bilecki would have made OSI look like fools at court martial, the matter was redirected to Non-Judicial Punishment (NJP). Here, we present the Senior Airman’s nefarious motives along with timelines and specifics of the events which made the allegations factually implausible. In fact, we had witnesses at the hospital who accounted for the Captain’s whereabouts throughout the morning which contradicted the Senior Airman’s claims of providing urine.
Despite laying out the case for the defense so clear that a 10-year-old could discern innocence, the command would not be denied their prey. They hastily adjudicated guilt and completely disregarded the substantial defense. It was a kangaroo court if we had ever seen one and the command never had any intention of doing anything other than trying to destroy the Captain.
Thankfully, our client was hungry for a fight and we pressed on. Our Captain eventually found himself in front of an Officer Show Cause Board at Kunsan Air Force Base. As Bilecki routinely does, he hopped on a plane and flew to South Korea to defend his client. During a two-day hearing we again laid out the obvious defense in front of the board, but that wasn’t the best part. The Senior Airman who accused our client took the stand and we absolutely destroyed him. It was a damn honor to tear that man apart and we didn’t feel the least bit guilty over what we did to him.
Meanwhile, our client testified under oath and nailed it. He presented a truthful and accurate account of events and officers on the board had no choice but to clear the Captain. In fact, they found no basis for the allegations which made the command who found guilt during NJP look like a fool. It was as sweet a victory over the abuse and misuse of the UCMJ as we’ve had in awhile. It was glorious to watch the Captain retain his career and continue serving this great nation of ours.
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