Hire Defense Lawyer For Military
Sex Offenses
The government is throwing its weight against military service members who have been accused of rape, sexual assault, sexual harassment, and other sex offenses. It is vitally important that you choose a criminal defense attorney with prior experience with the military justice system, like Attorney Stephen Brodsky, a former US Navy JAG Corps attorney who has worked both with the civilian and military justice systems. Do not hire an attorney who has never been inside a military courtroom. The consequences of a federal conviction of rape or other sex crime are too costly to use an attorney who doesn’t understand military culture and life.
Consequences of a Sex Offense Conviction
Federal Conviction
Potential Prison Term
Sex Offense Registration
Permanent Stigma That Will Never Go Away
Under the rubric of Military Sex Offenses, the military has invested a lot of time in building up cases of military sexual assault offenses, including rape, assault, and harassment, in response to enormous pressures from feminist and political groups.
When a military service member is facing allegations of sexual misconduct, he has certain constitutional rights which he absolutely must exercise to protect his legal rights. He must immediately consult qualified military legal counsel, preferably a civilian criminal defense lawyer with a solid military background, to protect his life and career from the very beginning.
With the consequences of a federal conviction of a sex offense so serious, a service member must not delay in seeking competent, experienced legal counsel to defend him from the very beginning of the case. As soon as a service member has even a feeling that he may be the target of a vindictive woman with harmful motives to create false accusations, the service member should immediately find a highly qualified civilian criminal defense lawyer who has substantial military legal experience, preferably a former U.S. Navy or military JAG Corps attorney.
A service member has the same federal constitutional rights as any civilian man. He has a right to remain silent, a right to counsel, a right against unreasonable searches and seizures, and a right to present a defense on his own behalf.
How is a Sexual Misconduct Investigation Initiated?
The alleged victim, a friend, a group of friends of the victim contact NCIS or CID (Army) OIS (Air Force) and report that a service member (almost always a male service member) has sexually assaulted, raped, or harassed a female service member.
A case file is opened, assigned a case number, and a preliminary investigation is conducted to determine whether the report contains credible accusations that can be corroborated by witnesses and circumstantial evidence.
If NCIS takes a detailed statement from the complainant or alleged victim. The investigators collect physical evidence if the facts warrant such an approach.
Most cases involve a woman accusing a male service member of committing sexual misconduct. In many cases, there are no witnesses or physical evidence to corroborate the woman’s complaint. In the past, most investigators would close a case with insufficient evidence.
In the past, sexual misconduct lacking corroborative evidence would be closed, but under the new IRC, a different approach will now be taken.
Mere accusations of sexual misconduct will be aggressively investigated and charged in a criminal prosecution or non-judicial punishment. Administrative separation procedures based on allegations of sexual misconduct will be processed against the male service member.
But under the new IRC recommendations, the government will initiate a criminal complaint even if there is no more than a woman accusing a male service member of sexual misconduct.
In the past, a military criminal investigative agency like the Navy/Marine Corps NCIS (Naval Criminal Investigative Service) would secretly take a report of unwanted sexual advances or conduct and try to interrogate the military service member before he even knows that he is the subject of a very serious sexual misconduct investigation. The Government would pull no stops to get evidence to bury an unsuspecting military service member. An agency like NCIS will often have the alleged victim place phony telephone calls to get the service member to apologize, admit misconduct, and even confess. Many service members will make statements to pacify an alleged victim to avoid confrontation and argument.
When staged phone calls don’t work, the NCIS will have the service member’s command “order” to report to the NCIS office to answer questions. Many ignorant and naïve service members obey their commanding officers, thinking it is their duty to answer questions by a criminal investigative agency.
Fortunately, most service members smell something is rotten in Denmark and consult military legal counsel outside the military to get advice on what the government is trying to do and how to protect himself against serious criminal charges of sexual misconduct and domestic violence.
The military justice system (MJS) traditionally has been the best place to defend against criminal allegations; however, concerning sex offenses, the MJS has become a tool of overzealous government prosecutors to accuse male service members of sexual offenses without regard to the actual truth of the allegations.
This has been an increasing trend over the last ten years. To make matters worse, a new player has arrived on the scene. Now, the Independent Review Commission (IRC), a feminist group that prepared a three hundred-page report of how lower-ranking female personnel has been intimidated, bullied, and pressured into silence about sexual aggression by peers and higher-ranking military Superiors.
The IRC gave their recommendations this past year to Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin, Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, and President Biden. President Biden has already signed an executive order authorizing the military to amend the Manual of Courts-Martial and Uniform Code of Military Justice to add a new crime to Article 120, the main article dealing with sexual misconduct allegations. The latest crime is called “Sexual Harassment.” The text of the latest crime has yet to be revealed, but one can only imagine that a woman who wants to accuse a peer or superior of unwanted sexual advances and behavior will resort to this new UCMJ article to complain about the target of the woman’s wrath.
The IRC has proposed sweeping changes in how sex crimes are initiated and handled within the military. The IRC has persuaded the DoD to remove the prosecution of sex offenses from the command of the victim and accused to different specialty departments consisting of civilian and military people. The IRC wants special Judge Advocate prosecution units created devoted solely to sex crime prosecution. The IRC wants to make a mere complaint by a female service member the basis for taking criminal and administrative adverse actions against military peers and superiors. The IRC does not want a service member to defend himself against a “Substantiated Complaint of Sexual Misconduct.” This radical wave of new feminists has secured the blessings of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the President of the United States.
Here is what a service member accused of sexual misconduct must do to fully protect himself:
Absolutely remain silent to all others but your own military criminal defense lawyer. Whenever possible, consult with a private criminal defense lawyer who has had substantial prior experience.
You must completely follow the attorney’s advice, ignore all attempts by the command, the NCIS, the alleged victim, and others to get you to talk. In many instances, the NCIS will coach an alleged victim to stage a pretext phone call where the victim will try to coax incriminating statements from the male service member or superior she has accused. The service member must never answer a phone call, email, or other attempt to communicate by the victim!
Refuse your command’s order to speak with NCIS or any other criminal investigator. Do not speak with your commanding officer or any other member of your command. You must remain completely silent.
False Allegations. The vast majority of domestic violence and sexual misconduct cases are conjured up by angry and vindictive women with a motive to fabricate false accusations of domestic violence or sexual assault. Your attorney will help you think through your situation very carefully so that you can begin to construct the false motives that your accuser has adopted to damage your career and life.
Defense Strategy First principle: Don’t talk to anyone except through legal counsel. Your attorney will hire a professional investigator to investigate your accuser’s background and her present motives for accusing you of sexual crimes. In many instances, women who have acted flirtatiously at parties, in front of large numbers of people, who have actually initiated sexual contact with the male service member are usually under the influence of drugs and alcohol. When they recover their sobriety, they realize that they have a relationship with another man they want to save. This is the main motive for false sexual misconduct accusations. Your professional investigator will work hard to uncover the false motives of your accuser. Special experts in DNA and psychology will often examine the evidence assembled by the government and probe for weaknesses to attack and neutralize.
Consent is by far the most effective defense. A good investigator will quickly find out witnesses who will give sworn statements about the victim’s behavior during the alleged sexual misconduct. I had a case recently where a young woman became drunk and started dirty dancing with my client, a Marine Gunney, in front of a large number of people. When the two retired to my client’s bedroom, the victim had buyer’s remorse and screamed inside the bedroom. Police arrived and arrested my client without conducting a fair and impartial investigation. My law firm was retained by the Gunney’s family, and we hired a professional investigator who found out that another man had been sitting in an easy chair trying to deal with his nausea and sickness. This witness gave a sworn statement that the victim was the sexual aggressor and that the gunney stopped when the victim screamed. The NCIS took a sworn statement by the witness and closed the investigation.
Search and Seizure
The Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees a military service member a right to refuse anyone’s request to conduct a search of the service member’s residence and other personal effects. Only a service member’s consent to search or a search warrant is issued by a court with appropriate jurisdiction. If you live on base, a military judge can issue a search warrant as long as the NCIS provides an affidavit describing probable cause to believe that incriminating evidence is likely to be found. Even search warrant affidavits must have a reasonable scope. The court will issue a search warrant, but limit it to places where incriminating evidence is likely to be found. The NCIS cannot tear apart a service member’s home in a free for all search for incriminating evidence. The search must be tailored by the scope set forth in the search warrant, or any evidence will be thrown out.
Interrogations
If the military service member does not retain legal counsel, he may find himself in a room in the NCIS where they interrogate criminal suspects. A criminal suspect must be advised of his right to remain silent and his right to counsel under the Fifth Amendment and Article 31 against compulsory self-incrimination.
Investigators try to intimidate and scare military service members. They lie and often minimize the potential consequences of an incriminating admission. They keep the service member in one place for a long period of time and try to break him down, so he will agree to waive his right to remain silent.
Your Attorney’s Defense Strategy
Your attorney will hire a professional investigator with a military background to develop witnesses and other defense evidence. A psychological evaluation is often a good idea to show that the service member does not have the psychological make-up to commit an act of sexual violence. Your attorney may also have a confidential polygraph conducted. The polygraph is inadmissible in court, so that it will be conducted confidentially. If the polygraph shows honest and truthful results to questions about committing a sexual crime, it may serve as a useful tool to convince the prosecution that it has accused an innocent man. Good character letters from family, relatives, friends, work colleagues, and anyone who can give a sworn statement that you do not have the attributes to harm anyone or commit a crime. Performance evaluations, special awards, and other documentation in your military personnel record that runs counter to serious accusations of criminal conduct. Do your military duty and keep silent about any criminal accusations. If the command orders you to visit family advocacy, visit family advocacy, but tell counselors that you will not be talking to them about pending criminal allegations.
Contact former US Navy JAG Corps Attorney Stephen Brodsky for a free, confidential case evaluation as soon as possible. Do not procrastinate on consulting legal counsel. Your life and future depend on getting good, sound legal advice as quickly as possible. Call +1 (877) 524-2889.
