A Navy Petty Officer First Class at Pearl Harbor faced an Administrative Separation Board after testing positive in a urinalysis for a controlled substance, a violation of Article 112a of the UCMJ.
The initial recommendation for the Petty Officer was an Other Than Honorable (OTH) Discharge, which could have significant negative implications on his post-service life. Recognizing the severity of the situation, the Petty Officer retained the services of an Article 112a UCMJ military drug crime defense attorney, Tim Bilecki, to represent him.
Bilecki’s team litigated the case at the Administrative Separation Board, presenting a case of extenuation and mitigation based on using cocaine while on leave. We argued that it was a one time mistake and didn’t even mess around with innocent ingestion because the Petty Officer wanted to maintain his integrity. We then called in numerous character witnesses and advocated for retention in the Navy or if there was a separation, to at least have it with a better characterization of service. The board members took the zero tolerance for drugs seriously and recommended administrative separation. However, they did allow him to separate with a General, Under Honorable conditions discharge, which is more favorable than the OTH recommended.
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