At a Glance: Keesler AFB
- Installation: Keesler Air Force Base, Biloxi, Mississippi.
- Major commands: the 81st Training Wing.
- Investigators: Air Force OSI. Off base, Biloxi police and the Harrison County sheriff.
- Free defense counsel: the Area Defense Counsel (ADC). Not the base legal office.
- Who decides on charges: on covered offenses such as sexual assault and domestic violence, the Department of the Air Force Office of Special Trial Counsel decides; your commander decides the rest.
- Civilian courts: an off-base arrest can bring a Mississippi prosecution as well as a court martial, because the state and the military are separate sovereigns.
- Where we fit: hired civilian counsel under UCMJ Article 38(b), with your ADC kept on the case. Tim Bilecki, defending service members since 2003, has taken more than 250 courts martial to verdict.
Keesler Air Force Base: The Schoolhouse on the Gulf Coast
On the Mississippi Sound at Biloxi, Keesler Air Force Base is one of the Air Force's great technical training centers, the home of the 81st Training Wing, which turns out cyber, communications, weather, air traffic control, and personnel professionals for every branch of the military. It is also the home of the 403rd Wing and its WC-130J Hurricane Hunters, the Reserve crews that fly into storms to feed the National Hurricane Center, and of the Keesler Medical Center, one of the Air Force's largest hospitals. The population skews young, full of Airmen in their first technical school straight out of basic, alongside their instructors, the Reserve aircrew, and the medical staff, on a humid Gulf Coast of beaches, casinos, and hurricane seasons the base knows firsthand. A wing built on training the force will protect its standards and move hard against an Airman who steps wrong.
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.
For how Mississippi 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 Fort Rucker, NAS Meridian and Columbus Air Force Base.
The Gunner Who Would Not Leave His Pilot
The standard for the young Airmen here was set by Staff Sergeant Archibald Mathies, an engineer and ball turret gunner on a B-17 over Europe on February 20, 1944. Enemy fighters killed the copilot, knocked out the pilot, and left the bomber crippled, and when the crew was ordered to bail out, Mathies and the navigator refused to abandon the unconscious pilot they could not move. They flew the shattered aircraft home and tried again and again to land it to save him, and on the third attempt the bomber crashed and Mathies was killed. He was an enlisted man who would not leave the man depending on him. That refusal to walk away is the standard we bring to a case at Keesler.
Why Airmen at Keesler Bring Us In
We win court martial cases. Students, instructors and Airmen of the 81st Training Wing bring us in when a case is headed to trial, and we come to Biloxi for the case. Good order and discipline come before the truth at Keesler, and a training wing under the spotlight will make one Airman the example to show its standards are sound. A young force in technical training is watched closely, and an instructor accused of crossing a line with a student faces some of the most aggressive prosecution in the Air Force. Serious allegations at Keesler go to OSI, and once sexual assault or another covered offense is involved, the call on a court martial belongs to the independent Air Force Special Trial Counsel, not the wing. Instructors and students who intend to fight hire their own counsel, because the Area Defense Counsel can be capable and still be stretched thin inside the same system.
The Keesler Legal Office, the ADC and a Lawyer of Your Own
Keesler's legal office serves the 81st Training Wing, its technical training squadrons and the Keesler Medical Center. It advises commanders, provides legal assistance and prosecutes cases. Students, instructors and permanent party Airmen who need a defense lawyer go to the Area Defense Counsel, free and outside the wing.
A student allegation in technical training can end a career before it starts. Talk to the ADC before OSI, and if the case is serious, add civilian counsel under Article 38(b) of the UCMJ without losing the ADC.
UCMJ Charges We Defend at Keesler Air Force Base
These are the cases we see most often at Keesler. If you face a different UCMJ charge, we defend that too.
Sexual Assault and Sex Offenses (UCMJ Article 120 / Article 134). The decision on these cases at Keesler is made by the Department of the Air Force's independent Special Trial Counsel, though a training wing often acts on the report before OSI has finished. Our defense investigation starts right away, and we contest the case on the evidence. See our Article 120 sexual assault defense page.
Domestic Violence and Assault (UCMJ Articles 128b and 128). Domestic violence in Biloxi and D'Iberville homes is charged by Special Trial Counsel today, and strangulation counts are filed even where there is no visible injury. A qualifying conviction also brings the federal firearms bar. See our Article 128b domestic violence defense page.
Maltreatment and Unprofessional Relationships (UCMJ Articles 93 and 92). On a training base the line between instructor and student is taken seriously, and the Air Force enforces it hard. The government brings maltreatment of a subordinate under Article 93 and a violation of the no contact and professional relationship rules under Article 92 when it says an instructor crossed that line with a trainee, and these cases can be charged on a student's word alone. The relationships are real, but so are the defenses, because the government still has to prove the conduct, the authority, and that a rule was actually broken, not just that an accusation was made.
Drugs and Off Duty Conduct (UCMJ Articles 112a and 134). At Keesler, a drug charge is only as strong as the sample's chain of custody and the proof of knowing, wrongful use. Marijuana is medical only in Mississippi and a positive test is still a court martial offense under Article 112a, and for a young Airman a drug allegation in technical training can end a career before it starts. A positive test lets the government argue knowing use, not guilt, and the collection, custody and knowledge stay the government's burden.
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 Keesler Air Force Base, reach out for a free, confidential strategy session. We will tell you what you are facing and how we would defend it.
Cases Connected to Keesler 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: Airman Targeted by Vigilante Sting Operation, Charges Not Preferred
FAQ
OSI wants to interview me at Keesler. 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.
I'm an instructor accused of an unprofessional relationship with a student. How serious is this?
Very. The Air Force treats an instructor and trainee relationship as one of the most serious breaches of trust on a training base, and it can charge maltreatment under Article 93, a regulation violation under Article 92, or a sexual offense under Article 120, sometimes all at once and on a student's account alone. That is exactly why it has to be contested early, by counsel who will test the accusation rather than assume it, and we do that work.
I fly the WC-130J with the 403rd Wing. Can an allegation cost me my flying status?
Yes. For rated aircrew an allegation can convene a Flying Evaluation Board that reviews your fitness to keep flying on a standard far below what a conviction requires, so you can be pulled off flying status even if the criminal case does not stick. That is why the underlying allegation has to be defended on both fronts at once, and we handle the criminal case and the flying status together.