Maximum Punishment:
- DD, 11 years and 7 months confinement, total forfeiture, reduction to E-1, Federal felony conviction
An Army Private stationed at Camp Casey, Korea was charged at a general court martial with three specifications of desertion, one failure to report, and dishonorably failing to pay a debt and placed in pre-trial confinement.
Tim Bilecki, a court martial lawyer in Korea, convinced a military magistrate to release the client from confinement before the Article 32 hearing. The defense submitted mitigating evidence at Article 32, demonstrating the Soldier’s mistreatment by the command.
After the Article 32 hearing, while being escorted to the trial defense services (TDS) office for a meeting, the Soldier escaped and went AWOL again. The command wanted to throw the book at the Soldier when he was apprehended later that evening in the ville, but Mr. Bilecki negotiated with prosecutors and the command to have the charges dismissed in exchange for an administrative separation. Charges were dismissed, and the client had no federal conviction.
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