SHARP / SAPR
At Bilecki Law Group, we believe every service member has earned their right to an aggressive defense on their day in court. We specialize in taking the fight to the prosecution and winning cases that others said were unwinnable.
SHARP and SAPR Sexual Assault Defense
SHARP means Sexual Harassment/Assault Response and Prevention, the Army’s program. SAPR means Sexual Assault Prevention and Response. These programs support prevention, reporting, and assistance for people who report sexual assault. They do not decide whether an accused service member committed a crime. That requires the evidence and the applicable law.
SHARP · SAPR
Prevention, reporting and assistance
For people who report sexual assault
WHETHER A CRIME WAS COMMITTED
The evidence and the applicable law
The programs do not decide it
The pressure to show that the military takes sexual assault seriously must never become permission to presume an accused service member is guilty.
If you’re accused of sexual assault, the current legal climate can feel hostile to your very existence. Your reputation, career, and freedom may be at stake before you have had a meaningful chance to tell your side of the story.
- A report is an allegation. Neither the number of reports nor the existence of support services proves that a particular allegation is true or false.
- A conviction for a sexual offense can carry confinement, a punitive discharge, and registration consequences that follow you into civilian life. The consequences depend on the offense and the applicable law.
- If someone tells you that one drink automatically makes a person legally incapable of consenting to sex, that is not the rule in Article 120. The actual circumstances matter.
Bilecki Law Group fights for service members accused of sex crimes. We understand the legal ramifications of SHARP and SAPR, and we will take the fight to an overconfident prosecution.
Defense Attorneys That Fight Back Against SHARP/SAPR
SHARP and SAPR began with good intentions. The U.S. military is a stronger force when rape and sexual assaults are reduced or eliminated entirely. All well-meaning members of the military can get behind that core purpose. But support for a person who reports an assault cannot substitute for proof against the person accused.
When an allegation is false, we look for the facts that expose it: changing accounts, messages, witnesses, motive, and forensic evidence. We do not accept an accusation as true simply because it arrived through SHARP or SAPR.
A service member falsely accused of a sex crime needs a defense team willing to confront the allegation directly. Your allies can feel few and far between. That is why preparation matters:
- Your detailed military defense attorney may have substantial trial experience or may be handling a sexual assault trial for the first time. Ask about that experience, the proposed defense, and the reasons for any plea recommendation. A plea decision should follow a serious evaluation of your case.
- The government can draw on military investigators, prosecutors, forensic laboratories, and expert witnesses. Your defense needs to understand and test the work those people performed.
- Sex crimes elicit disgust from both military and civilian communities. Friends may refuse to speak with you, and you may feel like an outcast to the very brothers and sisters you’ve fought beside. Those reactions do not establish guilt.
Hiring a defense team that understands SHARP and SAPR is an important step toward protecting your future and your military career. If you feel you’ve been wrongly accused of a sex crime, act quickly to get legal advice and preserve the evidence that can establish what happened.
Do not wait for charges before taking the allegation seriously. Speak with a military defense attorney while witnesses, messages, and other evidence can still be located.
What Resources Does Bilecki Law Group, PLLC Have to Defend Me Against a Sexual Assault Allegation?
Bilecki Law Group goes into each court martial battle stocked and loaded. That means preparing our own defense, not simply waiting to see what the prosecution gives us.
- We can use investigators and appropriate experts when the needs of your case call for their assistance.
- We will perform our own investigation into your case and will not blindly rely on the CID, NCIS, or OSI investigation.
Fight, Fight, Fight. Don’t Immediately Wave the White Flag of Surrender
A review of our previous cases shows how Bilecki Law Group has fought sexual assault allegations. We understand SAPR and SHARP and the ramifications they have for military service members. We have the case history to back it up. Every case depends on its own facts; a past result does not guarantee the same outcome.
Frequently Asked Questions about SHARP and SAPR
What Is the Difference Between Restricted and Unrestricted Reporting for SHARP/SAPR?
Restricted reporting allows an eligible person to seek support through designated personnel without the report itself initiating an official investigation or identifying the person to command. It is subject to confidentiality exceptions. An investigation can still begin from independent information, even while the restricted report remains protected. Restricted reporting does not mean that no investigation can ever occur.
Unrestricted reporting triggers an official investigation and command notification. It permits access to support services and requests for protective measures or an expedited transfer when the governing requirements are met. It does not automatically make the entire investigation public, guarantee a transfer, or entitle the reporting person to an honorable discharge. Medical privacy and other protections still apply.
RESTRICTED
Support through designated personnel · The report itself does not initiate an official investigation or identify the person to command · Confidentiality exceptions apply
UNRESTRICTED
Triggers an official investigation and command notification
Restricted → unrestricted: can be converted · Unrestricted → restricted: cannot
A restricted report can be converted to an unrestricted report. An unrestricted report cannot be converted back to a restricted report. These are sexual assault reporting options; sexual harassment complaints follow their own procedures.
How Does SHARP/SAPR Define Sexual Assault?
Sexual assault charges are governed by the applicable UCMJ offense, including Article 120. Consent means a freely given agreement to the conduct at issue by a competent person. One drink does not automatically establish incapacity, and a person’s ability to consent does not establish that the person actually consented.
We’ve seen dozens of occasions where the person reporting an alleged crime claimed that alcohol made him or her incapable of consenting. Those claims require careful examination. For an allegation based on intoxication causing incapacity, the government must prove the required incapacity and that the accused knew or reasonably should have known of that condition. Other Article 120 theories, including a sexual act without consent, have their own requirements.
We have no doubt that alcohol can make someone incapable of consenting. But a drink count, a training slogan, or the fact that a report was made cannot answer every legal question. We examine the person’s condition, words, conduct, and the surrounding evidence rather than letting an assumption decide the case.