Bilecki Wins Release and Challenges Custody-Related Allegations; Airman Retained After Separate NJP

Bilecki Wins Release and Challenges Custody-Related Allegations; Airman Retained After Separate NJP

June 2023

Conduct alleged: Fairchild AFB, Washington and other prior duty stations. Disposition: Travis AFB, California.

Air Force Technical Sergeant – E-6

Allegations: UCMJ Article 120 Sexual Misconduct; UCMJ Article 128 Assault and Battery; UCMJ Article 112a Wrongful Use and Possession of Marijuana; UCMJ Article 131b Obstructing Justice

Facts

This was a Technical Sergeant facing court martial referral on Article 120 sexual misconduct and Article 128 decade-long domestic violence allegations from his spouse. Maximum exposure if the Article 120 / Article 128 allegations moved to court martial: years of confinement, federal felony, possible punitive discharge, and federal sex offender registration on the Article 120 conviction.

The Government alleged that in July 2022, the day our client returned from a one-year tour in Korea, he had digitally penetrated his spouse without her consent at the family residence near Fairchild AFB. The Government's spouse-witness account expanded the allegation back across a decade of stations: a 2012 strangulation in his Tinker AFB dorm room; a punch in the face at a gas station near Moore, Oklahoma; a 2013 strangulation that allegedly burst blood vessels in her eyes; a 2017 incident at MCB Camp Foster, Okinawa documented in a USMC PMO incident report; and a 2020 incident at Fairchild AFB.

The spouse reported the allegations to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations two days later, on the same day she was served our client's divorce petition.

Pretrial confinement started immediately. Our client was apprehended outside his Fairchild residence and held at Lincoln County Jail.

Our client retained Bilecki post pretrial confinement.

The custody motive carried the case. The spouse had no biological or adoptive relationship to our client's daughter (the daughter from a prior marriage; sole custody had been awarded to our client by South Carolina order in 2015). The spouse had been trying to halt the divorce in the weeks leading up to the report, with text messages preserved on our client's phone. A handwritten letter from our client's daughter, dated two days before our client's return from Korea, was attached to the spouse's protective order petition, evidencing pre-positioning. A Solano County, California Child Protective Services investigation into the daughter's wellbeing returned an "unfounded" finding. A Washington Superior Court Writ of Habeas Corpus issued in late July 2022 ordered the daughter's immediate return to our client. The final Washington divorce decree of April 2023 gave our client sole custody.

The defense pushed the same custody-motive record into the R.C.M. 305(i) Pretrial Confinement Review hearing. The Pretrial Confinement Review Officer found probable cause as to the alleged conduct but expressly credited the defense's custody-motive argument: that the spouse "has motivations that could call the legitimacy of her statements ... into question ... related to the Accused's pursuits of divorce and custody." The PCRO found that less severe forms of restraint were adequate. Our client was released after approximately seven days in pretrial confinement.

The Central Registry Board was the second track. The command opened eight CRB incident determinations across the alleged adult physical, emotional, and sexual maltreatment of the spouse and the alleged child physical and emotional maltreatment of the daughter. In December 2022, all eight CRB findings came back as "did not meet criteria" for DoD Central Registry reporting.

The Letter of Reprimand rebuttal followed. The command issued an LOR in May 2023 citing the Article 120 sexual misconduct and the Article 128 decade-long domestic violence allegations. Defense rebuttal matters surfaced the divorce-custody motive timeline, the Solano CPS unfounded finding, the Washington Habeas decision, the missing forensic interview of the daughter, and a defense reframe of the jail-call audio the Government characterized as obstruction.

The Article 120 sexual misconduct and the Article 128 decade-long domestic violence allegations never went to court martial. No charges were preferred on the Article 120 / Article 128 conduct. No administrative separation followed. No GOMOR.

The Article 15 that did issue captured only the collateral conduct: Article 112a wrongful use and possession of marijuana (a delta-9 THC vape pen recovered incident to apprehension) and Article 131b obstruction (a single jail-call statement to the spouse). The initial Article 15 punishment included reduction from Technical Sergeant to Staff Sergeant, suspended forfeitures for two months and a reprimand. Our client remained on active duty.

The separate LOR was withdrawn. The Article 15 appeal was granted in part.

Result: No Article 120 or 128 charges were preferred. All eight CRB findings were "did not meet criteria," and the separate LOR was withdrawn. The Airman received Article 15 punishment, obtained partial appeal relief and remained on active duty.

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FAQ

Q: How did Bilecki obtain release from pretrial confinement?
The defense put the divorce and custody record before the reviewing officer. The officer found probable cause but recognized the spouse’s possible motive and determined that less severe restraint was adequate. Our client was released after approximately seven days. That was a release decision, not an acquittal.

Q: What happened in the separate administrative proceedings?
All eight Central Registry Board allegations returned “did not meet criteria.” Bilecki also rebutted the separate LOR, which was withdrawn. The Article 15 concerned the THC vape and obstruction conduct. Punishment was imposed, and the appeal was granted in part. The Airman remained on active duty without court-martial charges on the sexual-misconduct or assault allegations.