Bilecki Wins Favorable Article 32 Findings; JBLM Sexual Assault Charges and GOMOR Withdrawn

Bilecki Wins Favorable Article 32 Findings; JBLM Sexual Assault Charges and GOMOR Withdrawn

Proceedings during 2024–2025

Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Washington

Army Captain – O-3

Allegations: UCMJ Article 120 Sexual Assault (3 specifications); UCMJ Article 120c Indecent Recording; UCMJ Article 128b Domestic Violence; UCMJ Article 115 Communicating a Threat; UCMJ Article 134 Indecent Conduct and Animal Abuse; UCMJ Article 92 Violation of a Military Protective Order

Facts

An Army Captain assigned to a Special Forces Group at Joint Base Lewis-McChord was facing a referred general court-martial on a charge sheet that spanned six UCMJ Articles and ten specifications, with the Article 120 sexual assault counts routed through the Office of Special Trial Counsel as covered offenses. Maximum exposure on the Article 120 alone: decades of confinement, possible Dismissal, federal felony record, and sex offender registration. The charges threatened the commission and the Special Forces career.

The Government's case had a context the CID file did not capture on its face.

Our client and the alleged victim had separated. They had a confrontation in their residence. The alleged victim had committed a domestic assault on our client (she sprayed lubricant on him) and was removed from the residence pending investigation of her own conduct. While she was being investigated for that assault, she contacted CID and reported four-year-old allegations dating back to the first sexual encounter shortly before they were married, a series of alleged domestic violence specifications from a two-day argument the year after the marriage, an alleged indecent recording, an alleged hamster image, alleged animal abuse of a hamster, and a threat to kill the hamster. CID built a 197-page Report of Investigation. OSTC preferred ten specifications across six Articles.

Our client retained Bilecki at the CID investigation stage, before any preferral.

After the original preferral, OSTC re-preferred the case the following October, dropping the Article 128b domestic violence count entirely and recharacterizing the Article 120 specifications. The defense was entitled to a fresh preliminary hearing on the re-preferred charges.

We walked the preliminary hearing officer through the audio of the alleged victim's CID interview the original preliminary hearing had relied on. The CID agent had whispered with her back to the recorder during the consent questions. The portions of the audio that mattered to the consent theory were inaudible. The portions that were audible captured the alleged victim's own statements: that she had agreed to the sexual encounter she had reported as without consent, and that the inverted "stop" attribution in the CID summary was a CID error.

The preliminary hearing officer found no probable cause on every charge and recommended dismissal of all charges. The PHO's report characterized the CID Report as containing "inaccuracies that straddle gross negligence and, possibly, malfeasance." The PHO's report identified the alleged victim's own admitted prior assault on our client as the predicate for the report against him.

The Office of Special Trial Counsel Circuit Chief withdrew and dismissed all charges and specifications.

The Special Forces Command Convening General then issued a GOMOR for the underlying allegations and the alleged Military Protective Order violations. We filed GOMOR Rebuttal Matters. The Convening General withdrew the GOMOR.

Result: All charges withdrawn and dismissed by OSTC. GOMOR withdrawn. Retained on active duty.

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FAQ

Q: What did the interview recording reveal that the written report did not?
Bilecki had the preliminary hearing officer listen to the actual recording. Some critical passages were inaudible. The audible passages included the complainant's account of agreeing to the encounter and her explanation that the report had reversed who said “stop.” That comparison went to the heart of the allegation. The hearing officer found no probable cause on any charge and recommended dismissal.

Q: Did the hearing officer's recommendation automatically end the case?
No. OSTC made the decision to withdraw and dismiss the charges. Bilecki then had to address a separate reprimand based on the underlying allegations and alleged protective-order violations. After the defense rebuttal, the general withdrew the GOMOR as well.