An Army Captain was falsely accused of sexual assault after going out drinking on Halloween night with a married female co-worker. The co-worker and Army Captain had met several years ago before she was married and before they both were stationed in Hawaii. After both PCS’d to Hawaii, they began talking and hanging out – the female co-worker’s husband was not yet in Hawaii.
Both decided to go out on Halloween night, bought costumes and made plans for the evening. Those plans included her staying over at the Army Captain’s condo. Prior to going out, she called her husband and lied to him about what she was doing that evening and did not mention that she was going out with another man.
Both went out drinking and clubbing in Waikiki and Honolulu and ended up back in the bedroom of the Army Captain’s apartment. The following morning, she woke up wearing his clothes and later claimed to have been “blacked out” from drinking too much and did not remember if they had sex. A sexual assault allegation and an investigation followed.
CID was involved and set its sights on the Army Captain to prove that he sexually assaulted his co-worker. Court martial lawyer Tim Bilecki was quickly retained to ensure this Army Captain would not become yet another statistic in the Army’s war on sexual assault.
Bilecki’s team brought on defense investigators to obtain as much information on the alleged victim and to ascertain exactly what happened on the evening in question. The defense interviewed individuals who saw the two out on Halloween and could substantiate that she was not overly intoxicated. Bilecki’s investigators were also able to view surveillance video from our client’s condo, showing that both walked in together and were not obviously intoxicated. We also determined that the alleged victim’s husband had found out that his wife was going out with another man and that she used a sexual assault allegation to deflect blame for her own marital infidelities.
After obtaining the necessary evidence through our own defense investigation, Bilecki discussed the case with CID and the SJA office, and the sexual assault allegations were ultimately unfounded. No charges were brought against our client.
However, during the investigation and prior to our office being retained, CID obtained the Army Captain’s cellular phone and conducted a digital forensic examination of the phone. That DFE showed that our client may have been in a relationship with a female Staff Sergeant. This led to an informal AR 15-6 investigation and, ultimately, the General Officer Memorandum (GOMOR) for fraternization. Bilecki’s team drafted rebuttal matters to the GOMOR and assisted the Army Captain in successfully resigning his commission with an Honorable Discharge.
No action was taken against the Soldier who made the false allegation of sexual assault.
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