Maximum Sentence:
- Dishonorable Discharge
- 10 Years and 6 Months Confinement
- Total Forfeiture
- Reduction to E-1
- Federal Felony Conviction
- Loss of Military Retirement
This case began with an ITT-sponsored wine-tasting tour around Korea. On the tour, a male Air Force Master Sergeant with 18 years of service, became heavily intoxicated with wine and, on the bus ride home, got into an altercation with two Air Force officers while suffering from an alcohol-induced blackout. The Air Force Master Sergeant eventually punched the JAG Chief of Justice (a female senior prosecutor at Osan, AFB) in the face, assaulted a registered nurse who attempted to break up the fight, and then resisted apprehension when OSI agents arrested him as the bus arrived at Osan, AFB. He subsequently had court martial charges preferred against him at a general court martial and retained Bilecki Law Group.
This was a very difficult case from the onset — in addition to the fact that the victim was female, an officer, the senior JAG prosecutor at the base, there were nearly a dozen witnesses to the altercation. Even against the odds, though, the defense team, led by Korea court martial defense attorney Tim Bilecki, refused to plea the case.
After interviewing all the witnesses and conducting a thorough Article 32 hearing, the defense learned that the senior prosecutor might have actually started the fight and assaulted our client first after losing her temper and yelling at our client. This provided us with not only a self-defense claim but also a divestiture defense against the senior prosecutor, that she had divested herself of her rank because of her actions. To further our case, we brought an expert in pharmacology onto the defense team to testify regarding the effects of alcohol in order to negate the specific intent aspects of the charges.
Tim Bilecki flew to Osan, Korea and tried the case in front of a jury. We utilized self-defense and divestiture defenses and alleged that the OSI agents had used excessive force on our client when arresting him and knocking out his front two teeth. At the end of a week-long trial, our client was found not guilty of resisting arrest and not guilty of assault on a commissioned officer but guilty of the lesser included offenses of assault consummated by battery, drunk and disorderly conduct, and assault on the registered nurse.
During the sentencing portion of the trial, we assembled extensive materials for extenuation and mitigation to save our client’s retirement. The government asked for extensive confinement and a dishonorable discharge. Based on the evidence we put on at trial on the merits and the sentencing case, the panel sentenced our client to a two-grade reduction and 30 days of confinement. No punitive discharge was given, and we were able to save this senior NCO’s retirement, which was calculated to have a value of over one million dollars.
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