An Army Captain at Fort Campbell, Tennessee, found himself in the crosshairs of his command and his wife when she discovered he was cheating on her. The two had an argument over it, and she demanded that he admit to the infidelity. The Captain told his wife, who became even more upset, and she then reported the infidelity to his command. The command initiated an AR 15-6 investigation for adultery, and the allegations were substantiated based on the statement of the Captain’s spouse, even though he did not make a statement to the Investigating Officer (IO) and there was no other proof.
Following this report, the command issued a General Officer Memorandum of Reprimand (GOMOR) against the Captain. After receiving the GOMOR, the Captain retained civilian defense counsel Tim Bilecki. We drafted rebuttal matters to the GOMOR, outlining that under the UCMJ, extramarital sexual conduct, known as adultery, is not a per se strict liability offense and that there must be some impact on good order and discipline, or the act must be service discrediting. Because the affair was with a civilian, did not involve another member of the military, and had no impact on good order and discipline, and was only discovered by the military after a personal and supposedly private conversation between a husband and wife, we argued that the actions of our client were not a violation of the UCMJ. Based on the GOMOR rebuttal, the Commanding General concurred and locally filed the GOMOR.
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