At a Glance: Fort Stewart
- Installation: Fort Stewart, southeast Georgia, next to Hinesville.
- Major commands: the 3rd Infantry Division, the Rock of the Marne.
- Investigators: Army CID. Off post, Hinesville police and the Liberty County sheriff.
- Free defense counsel: U.S. Army Trial Defense Service (TDS). Not the Staff Judge Advocate or legal assistance.
- Who decides on charges: for sexual assault, domestic violence and the other covered offenses, the Army Office of Special Trial Counsel, not your commander.
- Civilian courts: Georgia can prosecute an off-post incident separately; a state case and a court martial can both go forward.
- Where we fit: your civilian counsel under Article 38(b), on the same team as your TDS lawyer. Tim Bilecki tries the case himself and has taken more than 250 courts martial to verdict.
Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield: Home of the Rock of the Marne
On the coastal plain of southeast Georgia, Fort Stewart is the home of the 3rd Infantry Division, the Rock of the Marne, the Army's heavy armored division in the East and the largest Army post by area east of the Mississippi. Its Soldiers, the Dogface Soldiers, train across a vast stretch of pine and marsh out of Hinesville, the Liberty County gate town, while the division's aviation and the Rangers of the 1st Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment fly out of Hunter Army Airfield, thirty-odd miles east inside Savannah. Off duty runs from Hinesville and Richmond Hill into Savannah and its historic squares, River Street, and the Lowcountry out to Tybee Island, all of it under coastal Georgia heat, marsh, and Spanish moss. A division with this much history takes its reputation seriously, and a command like that has every reason to make an example of a Soldier who steps wrong.
A serious court martial is not the place to hire on geography. What decides a contested case is what the lawyer can do at trial. Military defense is all Bilecki Law Group does, and Dogface Soldiers bring us in for our record in cases like theirs. We come to Stewart, and we try the case to win it. We are the firm flown around the world for these cases, to Okinawa, Germany, and Korea, and while we are not across the street from Stewart, we are close, a short flight from Tampa.
For how Georgia law and the UCMJ work together, and for every other stateside installation we cover, see our page for court martial defense in the United States. We also defend service members at nearby Naval Submarine Base Kings Bay, Fort Benning and Fort Gordon.
The Soldier Who Reopened the Lifeline
The 3rd Infantry Division took the measure of a man in the fighting across France, and the standard was set in the Mortagne Forest by Staff Sergeant Lucian Adams. On October 28, 1944, near Saint-Dié, a German force had cut the supply line to an isolated American battalion and pinned down the company sent to reopen it. Adams went at the problem alone. Firing a borrowed Browning Automatic Rifle from the hip, walking straight into point-blank machine gun fire through the trees, he knocked out three gun nests and killed nine of the enemy, and the road to the cut-off battalion was open again. One man reopened the lifeline to a unit that could not reach itself. That refusal to leave a cut-off unit stranded is the standard we bring to a case at Stewart.
Why Soldiers at Stewart Bring Us In
We win court martial cases. Marne Division Soldiers at Stewart and Hunter bring us in when a case is headed to trial, and we come to the Georgia coast for the case. Good order and discipline come before the truth at Fort Stewart, and a command with the pride of the Marne Division will make an example of a Soldier to keep the standard sharp. If a serious case opens at Stewart, Army CID investigates it, and for any covered offense, sexual assault included, the Army's independent Special Trial Counsel rather than the division holds the referral decision. Even when Trial Defense Service counsel are capable, the docket inside the same system is crowded, so Soldiers serious about winning bring in their own lawyer.
Fort Stewart TDS, the Legal Office and a Lawyer of Your Own
Soldiers of the 3rd Infantry Division who search for the Fort Stewart legal office often need Trial Defense Service instead. The legal office serves the command and provides legal assistance. TDS gives Soldiers a free defense lawyer outside the division's chain of command for CID investigations, Article 15s, GOMORs and courts martial.
Use TDS, and call us if the case is serious. Article 38(b) of the UCMJ lets you hire civilian counsel while your TDS lawyer stays on as associate counsel, and we will tell you honestly if TDS alone is enough.
UCMJ Charges We Defend at Fort Stewart
The charges below are where most Fort Stewart cases start, not where our defense ends. Whatever you are facing under the UCMJ, we take it.
Sexual Assault and Sex Offenses (UCMJ Article 120 / Article 134). Referral at Stewart sits with the Army's independent Special Trial Counsel, but the division tends to accept the report as true before CID has finished. We investigate independently from the start and contest the case. See our Article 120 sexual assault defense page.
Domestic Violence and Assault (UCMJ Articles 128b and 128). Special Trial Counsel review every domestic violence case from Hinesville homes, and the government may charge strangulation without any injury to point to. A qualifying conviction also brings the federal firearms bar. See our Article 128b domestic violence defense page.
Larceny and Government Property (UCMJ Articles 121 and 108). A heavy armored division and its aviation at Hunter sign for a great deal of sensitive equipment, from weapons and optics to night vision and the parts that keep tanks, Bradleys, and aircraft running, and accountability is unforgiving. If the problem is a missing weapon, night vision that cannot be reconciled, or parts that walked off, the charge may be larceny under Article 121 or wrongful disposition under Article 108. The government still has to prove intent, or negligence where Article 108 allows it, since a hand receipt shortage is not theft.
Drugs and Off Duty Conduct (UCMJ Articles 112a and 134). A drug allegation at Stewart depends on a clean chain of custody and on evidence the use was knowing and wrongful. A Soldier is subject to the UCMJ off duty, so a weekend in Savannah, a night on River Street, or an incident off post comes back to the command. An off post matter can also be charged by the civilian authorities, so the same night can become both a court martial and a county case at once, which is one more reason to get counsel involved before you talk to anyone.
A Career and a Reputation Worth Defending
We do not pretend that every client is innocent. If a matter is genuinely minor, your detailed military counsel can handle it, and we will tell you so. When the case is serious, your career, your retirement, your name and your freedom are on the line at once. A court martial conviction is a federal criminal conviction. Where the sentencing parameters apply, the judge sentences within a confinement range set by the offense, two and a half to ten years for sexual assault and ten to twenty for rape, and must state specific facts in writing to go outside it. A conviction can also bring a punitive discharge and, on a covered sex offense, sex offender registration. That is why you fight.
If you are facing an investigation or court martial at Fort Stewart or Hunter Army Airfield, reach out for a free defense strategy session. We will tell you what you are facing and how we would defend it.
Cases Connected to Fort Stewart
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: Female Army SSG Fights Adultery Allegations, Bilecki Ensures All Charges Dropped
- Case connected to this location: Bilecki Wins Pre-Trial Withdrawal of Article 120 GCM on Army SGM at Fort Stewart Seven Days After M.R.E. 412 and Article 32 Wins
FAQ
Army CID wants to interview me at Stewart. Do I have to talk to them?
No. Under Article 31(b) of the UCMJ, military investigators who question you as a suspect must tell you the nature of the accusation, that you have the right to remain silent, and that anything you say can be used against you. You may decline the interview and ask for a lawyer. Call a defense lawyer before you say anything.
What is an Article 32 hearing, and can it stop my case?
An Article 32 is the preliminary hearing that must happen before a general court martial, and yes, a strong defense there can keep a case from ever reaching trial. It is the first real chance to test the government's evidence, cross-examine its witnesses, and litigate the motions that shape the case, including M.R.E. 412, the rape shield rule that keeps evidence of the alleged victim's sexual history out unless the defense can fit it through one of the rule's narrow exceptions. Win those fights, and the case can end before it ever reaches trial. We have done exactly that at Stewart, where an Article 120 general court martial was withdrawn days after we won the Article 32 and the M.R.E. 412 motion and the Soldier retired at his grade. Tim Bilecki travels to Fort Stewart to litigate these cases, the Article 32 and the M.R.E. 412 fight included.
I'm under an Article 120 investigation at Stewart. Will I have to register as a sex offender if I'm convicted?
Yes. 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, so the fight is to defeat the charge outright or reduce it to something that carries no registration. For these covered offenses an independent Special Trial Counsel, not your commander, decides whether charges are preferred, so the investigation and that decision are where the case can still be stopped. Get your own counsel involved before you ever sit down with CID.
I got arrested off post near Stewart or in Savannah. Can the Army court martial me for it too?
Yes. Georgia and the military are separate sovereigns, so the same incident can be prosecuted by the civilian authorities and by a court martial, and a civilian dismissal or even an acquittal does not end the UCMJ exposure. Which civilian prosecutor depends on where it happened: an incident around the main post falls to Liberty County, while one in Savannah near Hunter Army Airfield falls to Chatham County. A statement to one system can be used by the other, so do not talk to the police or CID until you have a defense lawyer.