A Marine Sergeant stationed at MCBH went out to a few bars in Kailua with his fellow Marines. The Marines were all drinking and having a good time and eventually took an Uber back to base. The Marine Sergeant ended up having sex with one of the female Marines he was with that night in his barracks room. The following day, the female Marine made a report of sexual assault, claiming that she was too incapacitated to consent.
The case was then investigated by NCIS, and the Sergeant was eventually charged at a general court martial with sexual assault. After being charged, he retained Hawaii civilian defense counsel Tim Bilecki to defend him. We interviewed the other Marines who were with the Sergeant and attempted to obtain CCTV footage from the bars and barracks room but were unsuccessful. NCIS never sought to obtain those either. The case eventually went to trial, and we put on a defense of consent and mistake of fact as to consent, giving the panel members an accurate picture of what occurred. Two Marines went out, had drinks, hooked up, and one appeared to regret that decision the following day. After a nearly week-long trial, the panel members found our client Not Guilty of all charges and specifications.
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