UCMJ Article 111: Leaving The Scene Of A Vehicle Accident

At Bilecki Law Group, we defend service members from charges for leaving the scene of a vehicle accident under Article 111 of the UCMJ. This includes charges that can be levied against either the driver or passenger.

How To Fight and Beat Charges of Leaving the Scene Of An Accident?

Look, there may have been an accident and at one point you were in the vicinity and then you were not. That alone does not prove you violated Article 111. There can be so much more to the story than the prosecution would like to make known.

It’s possible you had no idea there was an accident as it could have been very minor. It may be that you thought the immediate scene was unsafe for some reason and you left because you have excellent situational awareness. It might even be that you assumed the other guy caused the accident, but because you drive a beat-up Toyota truck that looks like it came straight from combat in Iraq, you just waved the other guy off out of mercy.

The point is that there can be more to the story, but you are going to have to fight to get that story told. The prosecution may try to describe you like a driver straight from Mad Max Fury Road and say you left the scene because of the dead hookers and cocaine in the trunk. When in reality, you may have been in a hurry so you were not late for formation and you assumed leaving the scene of a fender bender was the lesser evil. You are going to need an experienced military court-martial defense attorney who knows how to take the fight for the narrative right to the heart of the military prosecution.

Being late for formation, blaming the other driver, or deciding not to pursue damage to your own truck does not automatically excuse leaving. Those facts may explain your actions, but an explanation is not automatically a legal defense.

We examine the accident report, photographs, available video, witness accounts, and the timeline. If you did not know an accident happened, the government has a problem proving actual knowledge. If you moved because the scene was unsafe, we examine why you left, where you went, and what you did to provide assistance and identification. If you were a passenger, we examine your actual role instead of letting the prosecution treat everyone in the vehicle as the driver.

Fight Back Or Risk Losing Everything

Sadly, some service members do not realize how serious the prosecution is about taking everything from them until the sentence is read. By then, you have missed the chance to build your defense before trial. Again, you have to present yourself as a harder target than the prosecution expected. Make them prove their case instead of handing them an easy conviction. You stand up and fight for the career, benefits, and retirement that you deserve.

If you are facing investigation or court-martial under Article 111 of the UCMJ, reach out to us. We’ll give you a free consultation and we’ll shoot you straight on exactly what you are facing. We’ll put together our own investigation and even if you are facing a cocktail of UCMJ Article charges, we’ll fight each one to secure you the best possible outcome. As long as you are willing to fight like hell, so are we. Your willingness to fight back can pave the way for future service members to avoid such abuse and misuse of the UCMJ. Reach out to us and get us into that fight.

What Is Article 111 Of The UCMJ?

Article 111 of the UCMJ is used by military prosecutors to bring charges of leaving the scene of a vehicle accident against members of the armed services. These charges can be brought against either the driver or the passenger of the vehicle. A senior passenger can be charged if, in the required superior or command relationship to the driver, the passenger knew of the accident and wrongfully ordered, caused or permitted the driver to leave without the required assistance or identification.

While Article 111 requires personal injury or property damage, a small amount of qualifying damage can still matter. But not every scratch makes this an Article 111 case. The Manual limits the offense to damage to property other than the driver’s vehicle, or injury to someone other than the driver or a passenger in that vehicle. Spinning out in a vacant field is not automatically an Article 111 offense merely because you ran over a cricket or left a rutted path in the grass. We need to know what qualifying injury or property damage occurred and whether you wrongfully left without the required assistance or identification. The offense can also cover an accident you caused even if your vehicle never made physical contact.

Leaving the scene of an accident is a charge that has an equivalent in the civilian world, where the consequences can also be severe. As a service member, you face military consequences as well. You could spend six months in military confinement. You could forfeit pay and allowances. You could receive a punitive discharge that follows you long after your military service ends. Those are possible punishments, subject to the personnel and court-martial limits explained below. If you are a service member and you are under investigation or facing court-martial under Article 111, you need to take this charge seriously.

What Must Prosecutors Prove to Convict Under Article 111?

There are two specific forms of the offense that fall under Article 111 of the UCMJ and though they are similar, each one has its own unique set of elements that must be satisfied. It is also entirely possible that Article 111 charges are just one of the Articles being thrown against you. A single event can lead to allegations under several Articles of the UCMJ and as such, beating at least the Article 111 charge may be your path to avoiding the worst possible outcome. The Article 111 charges are as follows:

Leaving The Scene Of A Vehicle Accident: Driver or Passenger Charged as a Principal

For a service member to be found guilty as the driver, the prosecution must prove:

1. 1You were the driver of a vehicle.
2. 2While you were driving, the vehicle was involved in an accident resulting in personal injury or property damage.
3. 3You knew the vehicle had been in an accident.
4. 4You left the scene without providing assistance to a person struck and injured by the vehicle, or without providing identification to others involved in the accident or to appropriate authorities.
5. 5Your leaving was wrongful.

The injury and damage limits explained above apply. Actual knowledge of the accident is required, although the government may try to prove that knowledge through circumstantial evidence.

A passenger who is not charged under the senior-passenger provision may still be charged as a principal under Article 77. Mere presence in the vehicle is not enough. For an aiding-and-abetting theory, the government must prove assistance or encouragement and a shared criminal purpose. Inaction can qualify where there was a duty to act and the failure to act was intended to, and did, aid or encourage the offense.

Leaving The Scene Of A Vehicle Accident: Senior Passenger

For a service member to be found guilty under this provision, the prosecution must prove:

1. 1You were a passenger in a vehicle involved in an accident resulting in personal injury or property damage.
2. 2You knew the vehicle had been in an accident.
3. 3You were the driver’s superior commissioned or noncommissioned officer, or the commander of the vehicle, and wrongfully and unlawfully ordered, caused, or permitted the driver to leave without providing assistance to a person struck and injured by the vehicle, or without providing identification to others involved in the accident or to appropriate authorities.

The same injury and damage limits apply. Being the highest-ranking person in the vehicle does not, by itself, establish all of these elements.

Maximum Punishments and Sentencing Parameters

For either form of Article 111, the maximum authorized punishment includes a bad-conduct discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, and six months of confinement. Enlisted personnel can also be reduced to E-1. These are maximum punishments, not automatic consequences.

For noncapital general and special courts-martial, the sentencing parameter system applies when every offense of conviction occurred on or after 28 December 2023. The military judge must sentence within the applicable confinement range unless specific facts justify a departure. If the judge departs, the record must contain a written statement explaining the factual basis. These ranges do not replace the lawful maximum punishment for the offense or the court-martial’s jurisdictional limits. For offenses assigned sentencing criteria instead of a category, the judge must consider those criteria.

The ranges in the table are stated in months and are limited where the offense has a lower confinement maximum. A special court-martial can impose no more than its own authorized limit, even when an offense or category allows more. The maximum is not a prediction of the sentence in your case.

Reduction to E-1 applies to enlisted personnel. Dismissal, rather than a dishonorable or bad-conduct discharge, is the authorized punitive separation for commissioned officers, including commissioned warrant officers, and cadets and midshipmen. A dismissal may be adjudged only by a general court-martial. The authorized punishment also depends on the offense date and court-martial forum.

Can Article 111 Charges Really End My Military Career?

Yes, they absolutely can. You could be a hard pipe hitting SEAL ready to do your worst upon America’s enemies and still face a charge that threatens your military career. Your service record matters, but it does not make the charge disappear. The UCMJ is supposed to promote justice as well as maintain military order and discipline. That does not mean every accusation is justified.

If the prosecution wants to make an example of your case, that does not relieve it of the burden of proof. And if you are convicted, the court must consider the circumstances of the offense and your individual history. You should not have to watch the sum of your military career reduced to the government’s version of one incident.