Bilecki Uses Messages and Counseling History; Sexual Assault Allegation Dropped at NJP

Bilecki Uses Messages and Counseling History; Sexual Assault Allegation Dropped at NJP

November 2024

Kadena Air Base, Okinawa

Air Force Technical Sergeant – E-6

Allegations: UCMJ Article 92 Failure to Obey a Lawful Order; UCMJ Article 107 False Official Statement; UCMJ Article 119b Endangering the Welfare of a Child; UCMJ Article 120 Abusive Sexual Contact

Facts

An Air Force Technical Sergeant in the Special Operations Wing at Kadena AB was facing an Article 120 abusive sexual contact AFOSI investigation, with the Article 120 routed to the Office of Special Trial Counsel as a covered offense. Maximum exposure on a referred Article 120 conviction at general court-martial: years of confinement, possible punitive discharge, federal felony record, and sex offender registration upon conviction of a qualifying offense.

The Government's case was that on the night of the alleged conduct, our client had hosted a fellow Airman at his off-base residence in Chatan, Okinawa, the alleged victim had become heavily intoxicated and passed out on the couch, and our client had then carried her to his bed and digitally touched her vulva while she was unconscious. The alleged victim reported the encounter six months later to the SAPR victim advocate at her new duty station. The supervisor’s verbal counseling occurred the morning after the encounter, concerned a missed pickup, and preceded the formal report by approximately six months.

Our client retained Bilecki at the AFOSI investigation stage. Our client invoked Article 31 at his AFOSI interview. The interview was terminated.

We built the OSTC submission around the documentary record on the alleged victim.

We compared the accounts she gave to the people she spoke with after the encounter. The accounts differed about whether she woke with or without underwear, whether she described penetration, and whether she placed the incident at the Technical Sergeant’s home or a beach bonfire.

That comparison gave OSTC and the commander more than a general credibility argument. We also presented the six-month reporting delay, the counseling chronology, her continued presence at our client’s home for about five hours after she said she awoke, and the neutral witness’s account.

OSTC declined to prefer the Article 120 at court-martial.

The Wing then proceeded by NJP on three other matters that had surfaced during the investigation: an Article 92 KABI traffic-regulation violation (a brief electric scooter incident with our client's girlfriend), an Article 107 false official statement, and an Article 119b child welfare specification involving our client's seven-year-old daughter. The Government also added the Article 120 abusive sexual contact specification back onto the NJP form.

We submitted a 23-page rebuttal package with 10 enclosures and 15 character letters.

The commander dropped the Article 120 at NJP. The Article 120 abusive sexual contact specification did not survive into the imposed punishment. The remaining three NJP findings were sustained, with a suspended reduction in grade contingent on parenting course completion.

Result: OSTC declined Article 120 court-martial. Article 120 dropped at NJP; findings on Articles 92, 107, and 119b remained, with a suspended reduction contingent on completing a parenting course. No SORNA. Retained on active duty.

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FAQ

Q: What were the contradictions Bilecki presented?
The accounts differed on whether the complainant had underwear on when she awoke, whether she described penetration and where the encounter had happened. Bilecki compared those accounts with the neutral witness's statement and the actual counseling timeline. The counseling concerned a missed pickup the next morning; it did not immediately precede the report six months later.

Q: Why did the defense have to address Article 120 again at NJP?
Although OSTC declined court-martial, the commander included the sexual-contact allegation in the NJP proceedings. Bilecki submitted a twenty-three-page rebuttal with supporting enclosures and fifteen character letters. The commander dropped that allegation. Findings on the three other offenses remained, with a suspended reduction conditioned on completing a parenting course. Our client was retained.