An Army Sergeant stationed in Okinawa was charged with allegations of stabbing someone at a bar fight in March of 2017. The Sergeant retained a recognized court martial attorney in Okinawa, Tim Bilecki, less than two weeks prior to trial. After being retained, Mr. Bilecki quickly flew to Okinawa and built a defense. After interviewing numerous witnesses and actually touring the scene where the crime occurred – a bar in the Sunabe Seawall area of Okinawa – it was apparent that the lighting conditions, view planes and level of intoxication by the eyewitnesses who stated they saw our client conducted the stabbing could all be called into question.
In less than two weeks, Mr. Bilecki was able to obtain an expert witness in the area of eyewitness misidentifications, fly that witness to Japan and have them testify to the jury and educate them about the inherent unreliability of eyewitness identifications.
The highlight of the trial occurred during the defense case in chief when the person who we believe actually did the stabbing invoked his rights while on the witness stand, which was a true Perry Mason moment. The panel deliberated for less than 20 minutes before returning the Not Guilty verdict.
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