Attempted Murder Charge Dismissed; Army Captain Receives Reprimand and General Resignation

Attempted Murder Charge Dismissed; Army Captain Receives Reprimand and General Resignation

January 2025

Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri

Army Captain – O-3

Allegations: UCMJ Article 80 Attempted Murder of Spouse; UCMJ Article 128b Domestic Violence (2 specifications); UCMJ Article 128 Assault Consummated by a Battery (2 specifications)

Facts

An Army Captain at Fort Leonard Wood was charged with the attempted murder of his estranged wife. The Government's theory was that on a 2021 night in their on-post quarters, our client had wrapped his hands around her neck, squeezed, and threatened to kill her. Article 80 attempted murder. Routed through the Office of Special Trial Counsel as a covered offense. Two Article 128b domestic violence specifications and two Article 128 assault consummated by a battery specifications stacked underneath. Maximum exposure on the Article 80 alone: decades of confinement, possible dismissal, federal felony record, and the rest of a life carrying an attempted murder conviction.

The Government layered on a 2021 head-strike specification, a 2023 door and arm laceration incident, and a 2023 specification in which our client allegedly grabbed the alleged victim by her shirt and threw her onto the bed during an argument in their on-post quarters. The alleged victim had filed a restricted Family Advocacy report after weapons were returned to our client, then converted that report to unrestricted later that fall, after she had served our client with divorce papers.

Our client retained Bilecki at the CID investigation stage.

The Government's strangulation case rested on two photographs.

The alleged victim had produced them from her phone. She said they showed neck injuries from the night of the alleged 2021 conduct. The Government built the Article 80 attempted murder theory on top of those photographs.

We pulled the EXIF metadata.

Digital photographs may contain metadata showing when and how they were created. The forensic review of the metadata on the Government's two photographs established the photographs had been captured nearly a year after the alleged 2021 conduct, not contemporaneously.

The photographs did not document injuries from the night alleged. That undercut the evidence the government was using to support attempted murder.

The 2021 head-strike specification ran into the same documentary problem. The 2023 door and arm laceration specification ran into a separate motive context we walked the Government through. The alleged victim had served our client with divorce papers in the months before her unrestricted Family Advocacy report, and the CID file had not captured the timeline.

The Plea Agreement walked Article 80 attempted murder off the case sheet. Both Article 128 specifications withdrawn and dismissed. Article 128b Specification 1 (the 2023 door and arm laceration) withdrawn and dismissed. Plea of guilty to Article 128b Specification 2 only, the 2023 shirt and bed specification. Special court-martial forum. Military judge alone. No confinement under any circumstances. Article 32 preliminary hearing waived. Voluntary unqualified resignation in lieu of officer elimination on the back end.

The Military Judge adjudged a reprimand. No punitive discharge. No confinement. No forfeitures. The general officer show cause authority initiated officer elimination per the plea-agreement framework. Our client submitted the unqualified resignation. HRC accepted with a General (Under Honorable Conditions) characterization.

Result: Article 80 attempted murder withdrawn and dismissed. SPCM plea to a single Article 128b. Resignation accepted General (UHC).

---

FAQ

Q: What did the photograph review establish?
The metadata in these two photographs placed their creation nearly a year after the alleged assault. That undermined their use as contemporaneous injury photographs. Bilecki used the discrepancy to challenge a central part of the attempted-murder case. Digital photographs do not always retain reliable metadata; the significance here came from the examination of the actual files.

Q: What did the agreement and sentence leave our client facing?
The attempted-murder charge and three of the four assault or domestic-violence specifications were withdrawn and dismissed. Our client pleaded guilty to the remaining domestic-violence specification. The special court-martial sentence was a reprimand, with no confinement or forfeitures. He later resigned with a General discharge. The remaining conviction was part of the result, even though the most serious allegations were dismissed.