If Convicted at a Court Martial, the Long-Term Costs Are Excruciatingly High

Every court martial is different. Every accused service member is in a different financial and life position. What isn’t different is that every court martial conviction inflicts anguish on the service member, it’s just a matter of how much.

Careers are ruined. Families are destroyed. Children are irreparably damaged. Military members are financially wiped out. Members are kicked out of the military with a dishonorable or bad-conduct discharge and receive a DD-214 that says so. Retirement, the G.I. Bill, and other veteran benefits vanish. Honorable Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Airman, and Coast Guard personnel are imprisoned for years, decades, and even life. Some have to register as sexual predators for all to see. Civilian employment opportunities dry up. Some are driven to homelessness, depression, and even suicide. These are the horrific costs a court martial conviction can bring.

Financial, Social, and Emotional Costs of a Court Martial Conviction

 With years of military law experience, Mr. Liebenguth has worked with thousands of military clients and reviewed hundreds of court martial trial transcripts of convicted service members. This vast experience has taught that almost every court martial conviction has a financial, social, and emotional cost that many will never recover from. Any one of these costs is daunting on its own. Together, they can be almost unbearable.

Financial Cost of A Court Martial Conviction

The money lost from a court martial conviction can be in the MILLIONS OF DOLLARS  over a lifetime.

• Loss of Retirement and Military Benefits: As you likely already know, a service member could lose a military retirement that’s worth millions of dollars over a lifetime when the loss of retirement pay, medical and educational benefits, and other veteran benefits are considered.

• Income Lost While Imprisoned: If you are incarcerated in a military prison, you will not be paid. This loss of income obviously increases the longer you are confined and could easily exceed $100,000 and much, much more.

• Lost Income Opportunity: With a federal conviction and a DD-214 indicating a dishonorable discharge or bad-conduct discharge, high-paying civilian employment will probably not be an option. Even fast food restaurants can ask if you have been convicted of a crime. So all of the military skills you thought would land you a great-paying job may be all but ignored because you have a conviction and “bad paper.”

• Monetary Pay Back to the Government: Bonuses or advance educational assistance you received will likely have to be paid back. Fines and restitution to the government will probably be taken from your tax refund. This is adding insult to injury. The court martial conviction has likely already left you in financial ruin, now the government wants to pump a well that is already dry. The stress and anxiety of such a situation can be overwhelming when you are $50,000, $100,000, $200,000 in the whole, especially if you have a family.
  
  

Social Cost of a Court Martial Conviction 

• Loss of Military and Personal Reputation: A court martial conviction brands you a criminal—forever. No matter how hard you work to redeem yourself, that conviction will likely spring up again and again, especially considering the reach of social media. In today’s “cancel culture” a marred reputation is almost impossible to fix.

• Loss of Family and Friends: Make no mistake, with few exceptions, your family and friends will view you differently now that you are labeled a criminal. They may say otherwise, but most will think and act differently. You’ll feel the difference. 

• Eroded Place in Society: Anyone that discovers that you are a convicted criminal from the military will be wary of you. Employers won’t want to take a risk on you. Others will worry that you are violent and may use your military training to hurt them or their loved ones. If you have to register as a sex offender or can’t own a gun because you have a felony conviction, people will know it and treat you with disdain.

Emotional Cost of a Court Martial Conviction 

• Prison Changes a Person: When a military service member’s freedom is taken from them, it changes them. Nothing makes a military person more angry and bitter than to have his own freedom stripped away while protecting the freedom of his countrymen. And prison is not easy. Brig personnel may pay lip service to “rehabilitation programs,” but prison is above all else about PUNISHING a service member by putting him in a cage, and that caging hardens a person in a bad way.  

• Depression Can Set In: The crushing stress of financial ruin, imprisonment, and the other terrible negatives the accompany a court martial conviction, causes many military members to spiral into depression, which only exacerbates their already difficult situation.

• Homelessness and Suicide: Unfortunately, the second and third order effects of a court martial conviction can lead some military service members to find themselves homeless or even driven to suicide. Nothing can be worse than to know that a good person, who served in the military honorably, was driven to such circumstances because of a court martial conviction.

Can You Afford to Hire a High-Powered Military Defense Attorney? Can You Afford Not to?   

You absolutely can afford a high-powered court martial lawyer for your case. For whatever reason, some service members want to protect themselves on the cheap. They don’t realize they could actually be convicted and have their life ruined until it’s too late—when a GUILTY VERDICT is read.

With few exceptions, the military members Mr. Liebenguth has come into contact with over many years, both while on active duty and afterwards, would readily risk their life, and even give it, for their country or their military friends. Yet when it comes to protecting themselves, some are hesitant to hire a civilian defense attorney with a winning record because they fear the cost. But that cost is TINY compared to the cost of a court martial conviction.

Some worry that their money might be wasted because there are no guarantees they’ll win. That’s true, there are no guarantees. But hiring an experienced court martial lawyer with a reputation for aggressive litigation and a track record for winning does drastically improve the odds of winning. You can certainly go it alone with the free military lawyer, just be careful because but as they say, nothing in life is free—and your payment for that free lawyer may be a conviction. 

Mr. Liebenguth has been defending military members for decades. He has counseled or defended numerous clients and litigated hundreds of cases at the trial and appellate level. He has also litigated in the highest military court in the land—the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Few military defense attorneys have similar experience or a comparable record of success.

Don’t be misled into believing that an experienced defense lawyer is beyond your grasp. Contact Liebenguth Law NOW and learn how we would investigate, prepare, and defends you case.

You Owe it to Yourself to Get the Best Lawyer You Can to Defend Your Case

United States military members have a worldwide reputation for being able to accomplish any mission, no matter how difficult. If you need a military lawyer, then your mission should be to retain the very best to represent you.

Military service members have taken extreme steps to have one of the very best defend them. They have used their savings, sold their cars, motorcycles and boats, picked up additional jobs, taken out loans, and asked friends and family for financial aid.

They did this for one reason: they recognized what life would be like if convicted and they couldn’t imagine wondering—for the rest of their lives—if they lost at trial because they put their case in the hands of a free or inexperienced defense lawyer.

These service members understood the long-term cost of a court martial conviction far exceeded the cost of obtaining world-class legal representation. And so they realized that they couldn’t afford not to hire the best legal team they could find for their case.

Are My Chances Really That Much Better with an Experienced Court Martial Lawyer?

YES, they are. The conviction rate for military prosecutors is historically about 90%. These prosecutors are hand-picked because they can get convictions. So you need to hand-pick a legal team that can get acquittals. Don’t take a knife to a gun fight.

Want to see what hiring Liebenguth Law can do for you? Take a look at our case history page or our testimonials page to find out. As you know, past performance is the best indicator of future performance. So see for yourself what a world-class law firm can do.