Wright-Patterson Air Force Base: The Air Force's Brain Trust
Just east of Dayton, Ohio, Wright-Patterson Air Force Base is the Air Force's center of research, engineering, and acquisition. It is the headquarters of Air Force Materiel Command and the home of the Air Force Research Laboratory, the Air Force Institute of Technology, and the National Air and Space Intelligence Center. The installation also includes Huffman Prairie, where the Wright brothers developed practical flight after their first powered flights in North Carolina. The population is heavy with scientists, engineers, acquisition officers, and intelligence professionals, including professionals with advanced degrees, hosted by the 88th Air Base Wing. Families settle in Fairborn, Beavercreek, Riverside, and Huber Heights across Greene and Montgomery Counties, with Dayton alongside and Cincinnati and Columbus each about an hour away. A base built on federal careers will move hard against an Airman whose case threatens its standards.
Military defense is all Bilecki Law Group does, and Airmen 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 Pilot Who Lit the Target With His Own Aircraft
The standard at the home of flight test was set by Captain John S. Walmsley Jr., flying a night-intruder mission in Korea on September 14, 1951. After crippling a top-priority enemy supply train and running out of ammunition, Walmsley turned on his aircraft's searchlight to illuminate the target and guide a second bomber in, deliberately drawing the enemy guns onto himself; his aircraft was hit and crashed into the mountains. He made himself the target so the mission would succeed. That willingness to take the risk himself is the standard we bring to a case at Wright-Patterson.
Why Airmen at Wright-Patterson Bring Us In
We win court martial cases. Military defense is all we do, and Airmen 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 research and acquisition command will make an example of an Airman to protect its image. A serious case is investigated by the Office of Special Investigations, 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. The Area Defense Counsel may be capable but carries a heavy caseload inside the same system, which is why Airmen serious about winning bring in their own counsel.
UCMJ Charges We Defend at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
These are among the most common allegations at Wright-Patterson. The list is not exhaustive, and we defend the full range of UCMJ charges.
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. A conviction can mean confinement and a federal record, with registration required for a covered sex offense under the applicable federal and state law. These cases demand counsel who will run an independent investigation and contest the case rather than let the allegation stand in for proof.
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 an Air Force career because an Airman has to be able to carry a weapon. We also defend assault under Article 128, where self defense is a recognized defense.
False Official Statements and Fraud (UCMJ Articles 107 and 124). In an acquisition and research workforce a security or administrative inquiry can turn adversarial fast, and a statement that does not match the record becomes a false official statement under Article 107, sometimes stacked with fraud against the United States under Article 124 in contract, travel, or allowance disputes. The government still has to prove a knowing falsity and an intent to deceive, not just an inconsistency or an honest mistake, and that gap is where these cases are won.
Drugs (UCMJ Article 112a). A positive urinalysis is one of the fastest ways a career comes apart, because the flag can land before the case is ever resolved, and Ohio's legal recreational marijuana does not change that, since it remains a federal controlled substance and a court martial offense. 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, the lab work, and whether any use was knowing and wrongful all remain the government's to prove.
A Career and a Reputation Worth Defending
We do not pretend that every Airman who calls us from Wright-Patterson is innocent. What matters is how serious the case is, not your rank. If a matter is genuinely minor, the Area 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 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 Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, reach out for a free, confidential 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.
Cases Connected to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base
These cases include trials, hearings, investigations, and administrative matters. A connection to this location does not necessarily mean that the trial occurred here.
- Case connected to this location: Bilecki Walks Article 134 CSAM and Article 92 GCM Off Charge Sheet for Air Force Major at Wright-Patterson; Resignation in Lieu of Court-Martial Approved, No SORNA, No Federal Felony
FAQ
OSI wants to interview me at Wright-Patterson. Do I have to talk to them?
No. Under Article 31b of the UCMJ you have the right to remain silent and to a lawyer, and you can invoke both before the interview begins. OSI is gathering evidence, not offering a chance to explain, and a statement can drive the criminal case and an administrative action that follows you for years. Decline, ask for the Area Defense Counsel or your own lawyer, and say nothing until you have one.
My clearance was suspended over an investigation. Can you get it back?
We defend the criminal allegation that is driving the suspension, because beating or shrinking that case is the strongest leverage there is on what the security office decides next. We do not litigate the clearance adjudication itself. The federal career often rides on the same fight, so the priority is to win the charge before it becomes the record the security review relies on.
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. 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 OSI.