Naval Station Mayport: Destroyers at the Mouth of the St. Johns
On San Pablo Island where the St. Johns River meets the Atlantic, Naval Station Mayport is one of the Navy's largest surface fleet concentrations, the homeport of a squadron of Arleigh Burke destroyers and the helicopter maritime strike squadrons that fly off them, and the headquarters of U.S. Naval Forces Southern Command and the Fourth Fleet. Sailors and families live in the working waterfront town of Mayport, with its shrimp docks and ferry, and out across the Beaches, Atlantic Beach, Neptune Beach, and Jacksonville Beach, with the city of Jacksonville inland. It is a hard-charging surface fleet base, and the command protects the readiness of its ships by moving fast against a Sailor who steps wrong.
Military defense is all Bilecki Law Group does, and Sailors fly us in from our office in Tampa because a contested court martial is decided by trial experience, and we bring it wherever the case is.
The Officer Who Led Three Hundred Men Out of the Smoke
The standard for a Sailor was set by Lieutenant (junior grade) Donald A. Gary aboard the carrier Franklin off Japan on March 19, 1945. After bombs set off the ship's own ordnance and trapped some three hundred men in a smoke-filled compartment with no apparent way out, Gary found an escape route and went back into the smoke and fire three times to lead every one of them to safety, then organized firefighting parties and relit a boiler to help save the ship. He went back into the worst of it for the men who could not get out alone. That is the standard we bring to a case at Mayport.
Why Sailors at Mayport Bring Us In
We win court martial cases. Military defense is all we do, and Sailors fly us in from all over the country because of our trial record. The military justice system is not built to find the truth; it exists to preserve good order and discipline, and a surface fleet command will make an example of a Sailor to protect the readiness of its ships. A serious case is investigated by NCIS, and for sexual assault and other covered offenses the decision to refer charges to a court martial no longer belongs to your command but goes to an independent Special Trial Counsel. Your detailed counsel from the Defense Service Office may be capable but carries a heavy caseload inside the same system, which is why Sailors serious about winning bring in their own counsel.
UCMJ Charges We Defend at Naval Station Mayport
The charges below are the ones we see most often at Mayport, not the only ones we defend. If you are facing a different UCMJ allegation, we handle that too.
Sexual Assault and Sex Offenses (UCMJ Article 120 / Article 134). These allegations route to an independent Special Trial Counsel now, and the command treats a report as established before the investigation is finished, all the more so on a ship where word travels fast and the command wants to look decisive. These cases demand counsel who will run an independent investigation and contest the case rather than let the allegation stand in for proof, because a conviction can mean confinement and a federal record, with registration required for a covered sex offense under the applicable federal and state law.
Domestic Violence and Assault (UCMJ Articles 128b and 128). Domestic violence under Article 128b is charged as aggressively as any offense in the UCMJ since the Office of Special Trial Counsel took these cases over. It covers a spouse, an intimate partner, or a family member, and it treats strangulation or suffocation as its own charge that the government can bring even with no visible injury. A qualifying conviction also triggers the federal Lautenberg firearms bar, which can end a Navy career because a Sailor has to be able to carry a weapon. We also defend assault under Article 128, the usual charge when a night out at the Beaches ends in a fight, where self defense is a recognized defense.
Larceny and Government Property (UCMJ Articles 121 and 108). A ship and its squadrons are issued and sign for a great deal of gear, parts, and equipment, and accountability is taken seriously. The government treats missing gear, an item that cannot be reconciled, or property that walked off as larceny under Article 121 or wrongful disposition of military property under Article 108, but a shortage on an inventory is not the same as theft, and the government still has to prove the state of mind required by the charged offense: intent for larceny or fraud, or negligence where Article 108 permits it, not just that something cannot be found.
Drugs and Off Duty Conduct (UCMJ Articles 112a and 134). Drug cases often turn on the chain of custody and the government's burden to prove any use was knowing and wrongful. A Sailor is subject to the UCMJ off duty, so a night out at the Beaches or in Jacksonville that ends badly comes back to the command, and a positive urinalysis is one of the most common ways a career comes apart. A positive test is evidence the government may use to argue knowing, wrongful use, not an automatic finding of guilt, so the collection, the chain of custody, and whether any use was knowing all remain the government's to prove.
A Career and a Reputation Worth Defending
We do not pretend that every Sailor who calls us from Mayport is innocent. What matters is how serious the case is, not your rank. If a matter is genuinely minor, your detailed defense counsel can handle it, and we will tell you so honestly. But when the case is serious, everything is on the line at once: your career, your retirement, your good name, and your freedom. A court martial conviction is a federal criminal conviction, and the applicable sentencing parameters tie a confinement range to the offense, two and a half to ten years for sexual assault and ten to twenty for rape, that a judge can depart from only by stating specific facts in writing, on top of any required or adjudged punitive discharge and, on a covered sex offense, sex offender registration. That is why you fight. The court’s jurisdiction and the convicted offense determine which sentencing rules apply; some offenses use separate sentencing criteria rather than these ranges.
If you are facing an investigation or court martial at Naval Station Mayport, reach out for a free defense strategy session. We will tell you exactly what you are facing and how we would defend it. The government is already building its case. The only question is whether anyone is building yours.
FAQ
NCIS wants to interview me at Mayport. Do I have to talk to them?
No. You are not required to sit for an NCIS interview or answer their questions. Under Article 31b of the UCMJ you have the right to remain silent and to a lawyer, and you can invoke both at any point, including before the interview begins. NCIS is collecting evidence, not giving you a chance to explain, and it takes very little to be titled as a subject, a label that follows you for years. Decline, ask for counsel, and call a defense lawyer before you give any statement.
Something happened off base at the Beaches. Can the Navy court martial me for it too?
Yes. Florida and the military are separate sovereigns, so the same incident can be handled by the local authorities and by a court martial, and a civilian dismissal or even an acquittal does not end the UCMJ exposure. The command does not have to wait for the Duval County prosecutor, and a statement to one system can be used by the other, so do not talk to the police or NCIS until you have a defense lawyer.
I'm under an Article 120 investigation. Will I have to register as a sex offender if I'm convicted?
A court martial conviction for a covered Article 120 offense triggers registration duties under the applicable federal and state law, with requirements and duration determined by the covered conviction and jurisdiction, and Florida imposes its own public registration requirements. The entire defense is aimed at defeating the charge or reducing it to an offense that carries no registration, and the investigation and the charging decision are where these cases are most often turned. Get your own counsel involved before you ever sit down with NCIS.