Military Rape And Sexual Assault Attorneys
At Bilecki Law Group, we believe that service members wrongly accused of sexual crimes deserve a fighting chance for the truth to prevail. We fly in hard-hitting court martial lawyers anywhere in the world to ensure our service members can fight back against false allegations in the era of SHARP / SAPR.
It is a discernible truth that there is no greater abuse and misuse of the UCMJ than that which is taking place under the military’s Sexual Harassment/Assault and Response Prevention (SHARP) and Sexual Assault Prevention and Response (SAPR). SHARP and SAPR are essentially the same thing; the Army uses the term SHARP, while the other services use SAPR. While we largely applaud the intent of SHARP and SAPR, its application has been nothing but an unmitigated disaster. In fact, there is a reasonable chance that you are reading this now because you are facing an investigation or court martial for this very reason and you are scared out of your mind. You should be scared and you’re not wrong to seek immediate help. Something wicked is coming your way and it sure as hell is not justice.
Here are a just a few of the abuses that we are seeing take place in the era of SHARP:
- Allegations and rumors are being treated as objective fact. Rumor, gossip, buzz, dirt, word of mouth and good old fashioned scuttlebutt is all that is needed to absolutely destroy a service member’s life.
- Fellow service members weaponizing SHARP for personal benefit. It didn’t take long for service members to realize they can get out of their own trouble with the UCMJ by making false allegations.
- Commands are destroying careers, even without evidence of guilt. Even if there is not enough evidence to bring you to trial, commands are destroying the lives and careers of good service members through administrative measures.
YOU CANNOT RELY ON THE TRUTH TO SET YOU FREE! YOU MUST FIGHT FOR THE TRUTH TO BE HEARD.
Facing an Allegation?
Contact Bilecki Law Group
Timothy James Bilecki
Military law attorney
- tbilecki@bileckilawgroup.com
- Tampa, FL 33602
UCMJ Article 120 Has Become Politicized And Weaponized
Article 120 of the UCMJ explicitly lays out the elements necessary to charge service members with the crimes of rape, sexual assault, aggravated sexual contact and abusive sexual contact. For example, the elements need to charge a service member with rape under Article 120 is as follows:
- That (state the time and place alleged), the accused committed (a) sexual act(s) upon (state name of the alleged victim) by (state the alleged sexual act); and
- That the accused did so by…
It then goes on to give the options of force, threat, or intoxicants. What’s happening in the current culture is that (1) the sexual act is easily proven and in most cases admitted to by the accused. There was a sexual act. They did engage in consensual sex. The Corporal did have an intimate encounter with the Staff Sergeant like.
Unfortunately in the current political climate, commands and prosecutors are being encouraged to assume the 2nd element. That force, threat, or intoxication must have been at play here. The Pentagon and elected officials are putting immense pressure on commands to show results from SHARP that they will see the 2nd element, even when it is not present.
The next injustice that is taking place is that fellow service members have weaponized SHARP in order to achieve a particular aim. This may be to ensure a transfer to a more desirable duty station or to mask one’s own trouble with the UCMJ. We’ve even seen cases where subordinates were receiving righteous and just reprimands and they figured the best way to fight back was to accuse their superior of sexual assault or harrassment. Then, in other cases, SHARP is the match that a lover scorned uses to burn their ex to the ground. SHARP has been weaponized and politicized in its utility and as such, it is no longer achieving the noble aims it set out to achieve when the campaign began.
YOU CANNOT COEXIST WITH A MILITARY JUSTICE SYSTEM THAT IS TRYING TO DESTROY YOU.
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I’ve Been Accused Of Sexual Misconduct Under Article 120. Now What?
If you are being accused of sexual misconduct, then your case is likely heading for the Office of Special Trial Counsel (OSTC). Authority to prefer charges has been stripped from commands as commands were not producing enough results for elected officials in D.C. As such, guess what the measure of success is now for OSTC? Charges, convictions, and lives destroyed is now the currency that satisfies those on Capitol Hill. Innocence be damned.
This is what you are up against and why it is important for you to retain experienced counsel early in the process. We know that might sound a bit self-serving, but if not us, get someone by your side who knows how to fight. Do not assume that your innocence will be enough to clear your name. Do not assume your exemplary service record will save you from the abyss. Do not assume that the free JAG defense counsel randomly assigned to you cares more about your military career than their own. Most importantly, stop talking to anyone until you get this experienced counsel by your side.
This includes you bragging to the entire barracks that she loved it when you choked her and did some rough stuff that would make Chesty Puller blush. That’s because the UCMJ specifically states in Article 120:
“Threatening or placing a person in fear” means a communication or action that is of sufficient consequence to cause a reasonable fear that non-compliance will result in the victim or another person being subjected to the wrongful action contemplated by the communication or action.
In proving that a person made a threat, it need not be proven that the person actually intended to carry out the threat or had the ability to carry out the threat.”
What started out as a kinky night will be the very words that undo you in the end. So, what’s the moral of the story? Stop talking to anyone until you get experienced counsel retained. The amount of pressure to convict you is immense and it takes on a life of its own as it rolls over your innocence without so much as acknowledging it. You can’t sleepwalk your way through the defense. Every action and every word matters. Stop talking until you have spoken to civilian defense counsel who knows what the hell they are talking about.
How To Fight Back And Win Against Article 120 Charges
In 1945, Army First Sergeant Leonard Funk had just finished rounding up about 80 German prisoners in the Belgian village of Holzheim. Leaving a four man guard over the 80 unarmed prisoners, Funk left to check on the rest of the Company. Unfortunately, an armed squad of Germans was sneaking through the woods to free their comrades.
The squad overtook the guards and when Funk returned, many of the Germans were armed and demanded his surrender. That’s when funk began to lower his Thompson as if he was going to surrender and then in an act of genius or madness, he swung the gun around and began to fire it at the cyclic rate.
Within a matter of seconds, 20 Germans lay dead and another 20 wounded. The rest of Germans in shock of the act of sheer violence threw up their hands. For his actions that day, Funk was awarded the nation’s highest military honor and is perhaps the origin of the phrase, can’t stop the Funk.
Military prosecutors want you to surrender. They surround and intimidate you assuming, like the Germans assumed of Funk, that you will see the overwhelming odds and just give up. We say hell no. We’re going to swing this case around like Funk did his Thompson and fire at the cyclic rate. We’re going to let the prosecution and OSTC know from day one that they have a fight on their hands.
Again, in most cases, there was indeed a sexual exchange. The prosecution is just taking the word of the accuser at face value in the era of SHARP, SAPR and the OSTC. Unfortunately for the prosecution, Article 120 states that “All of the evidence concerning consent to the sexual conduct is relevant and must be considered…”. The only problem is that the prosecution is not going to go out of their way to bring up this evidence. You have to have an attorney who is going to fight in order to get every piece of evidence brought out into the light. The prosecution is not going to do it for you and inexperienced attorneys often don’t know where to start. We have the experience to fight back and if you don’t believe us, just take a look at some of the case results we were able to obtain for our clients and you’ll quickly see that you are not as screwed as the prosecution tries to make it seem.
FAQs About Rape And Sexual Assault Charges Under Article 120 Of The UCMJ
Hell yes you can and we do it all the time. Often, we are even able to leverage DNA evidence in our favor as we hire our own DNA experts. In other cases, we can have the evidence suppressed entirely. There are always options when you have experienced attorneys by your side.
In a perfect world, a baseless allegation would never see the light of day in court. If you are in the military then you do not live in that perfect world. In the era of SHARP, your guilt was assumed the moment the allegation was made and if you are counting on the truth to set you free, you’re in for a world of hurt. They are not pursuing the truth. They are pursuing your conviction to show off to higher commands and appease elected officials.
Damn straight we will and we’ve got the passport stamps to prove it. Service members overseas are in an even more precarious situation when charged with crimes under Article 120. Scared and thousands of miles from home is no way to fight the juggernaut that is the military justice system. We’ll fly in and fight by your side, anywhere in the world.
Well, that’s not a helpful position to be in, but stop talking to anyone and give us a call. Reach out to us and we’ll shoot you straight on what you are facing. There is still time to fight back. There is still time to secure for yourself the best possible outcome. Don’t let them take everything from you.
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Get in Touch
- tbilecki@bileckilawgroup.com
- 813-669-3500
- Bilecki Law Group, PLLC, 601 S. Harbour Island BLVD, Suite 109 Tampa, FL 33602