Fleet Activities Chinhae: A Small Navy Community Far From Home
On the south coast of Korea, next to the Republic of Korea fleet's home port at Jinhae, Fleet Activities Chinhae is the only United States Navy base in Korea. It is a small installation supporting the Sailors, Marines, and families who keep the Navy's presence and its partnership with the Korean fleet running. That small size cuts two ways. There is no large American legal community here, and there is no large crowd to disappear into when a command decides to make an example of someone. A Sailor at Chinhae facing an investigation needs counsel who knows both the Navy system and how Korea works, and needs it early.
The Pilot Who Would Not Leave His Wingman
The Navy aviator Thomas J. Hudner showed what it means not to leave one of your own behind. On December 4, 1950, over the frozen mountains near the Chosin Reservoir, his squadronmate Ensign Jesse Brown, the Navy's first Black aviator, was shot down and trapped in the wreck of his fighter. Rather than circle and watch, Hudner deliberately crash landed his own working aircraft in the snow alongside the wreck and worked with his bare hands in the brutal cold to try to free Brown, refusing to give up until there was nothing more anyone could do. He earned the Medal of Honor for it. That refusal to abandon the person counting on you is the standard we bring to a case at Chinhae.
Why Sailors at Chinhae Bring Us In
We win court martial cases. Military defense is all we do, Sailors fly us in from all over the world for it, and Korea is ground we know, because Tim Bilecki ran the Army's Trial Defense Service across this peninsula. The military justice system is not built to find the truth; it exists to preserve good order and discipline. 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 the command but goes to an independent Special Trial Counsel. Your detailed defense counsel 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 CFA Chinhae
We defend the full range of UCMJ charges. The ones below are the most common at CFA Chinhae, not the boundary of what we will fight.
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. 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 means confinement, a federal record, and a place on a sex offender registry.
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, where self defense is a recognized defense.
Larceny, Drugs, and Off Duty Conduct (UCMJ Articles 121, 112a, and 134). Property cases turn on the intent the government has to prove rather than assume, and drug cases 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 base, so a night out that goes wrong comes back to the command, and an incident involving a Korean national draws the Korean police. Under the Status of Forces Agreement, Korean authorities can claim jurisdiction over serious off base offenses against Korean nationals, so a bad night can mean attention from both U.S. military and Korean authorities. Get counsel involved before you talk to anyone. The SOFA allocates primary jurisdiction and limits a second trial for the same offense; overlapping investigations do not mean that both countries may freely try the same charge.
A Career and a Reputation Worth Defending
Not every Sailor who calls us from Chinhae is innocent, and we do not pretend otherwise. 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, for 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 CFA Chinhae, 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 Chinhae. 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. Decline, ask for counsel, and call a defense lawyer before you give any statement.
Chinhae is small and isolated. Can the firm really defend a case way out here?
Yes. Military defense is all we do, and we try these cases wherever the Navy convenes them. Sailors bring us in for our trial record, and Tim Bilecki ran the Army's defense across this peninsula, so Korea is not new ground for us.
Why hire Bilecki Law Group for a Korea case instead of a local attorney?
We win court martial cases, and Korea is ground we know firsthand. Military defense is all we do, and Tim Bilecki ran the Army's Trial Defense Service across this peninsula. That is experience on this exact ground, not an attorney flying in cold.