Fighting Your Drug Charge with an Experienced Court Martial Lawyer

 You’re being investigated by military law enforcement (NCID, CID, OSI, CGIS) or have already been charged with wrongfully possessing or using drugs. This is a devastating blow if you are a service member that wanted to make the military a career or wanted to do one tour and then use the G.I. Bill to go to college. If you are found guilty:

• Continuing to serve is in danger.
• Making it to 20 years and a retirement is in danger.
• Your G.I. Bill benefits are in danger.
• A dishonorable discharge or bad conduct discharge is likely.
• Prison time is a real possibility.

With your military career and your entire future under attack, who you rely on to defend you from that attack may be one of the most important decisions you ever make. Do you roll the dice with the free military lawyer? Or do you put your military career and future into the hands of a battle tested court martial lawyer with a reputation for fighting and winning?

You need a court martial lawyer that has been battling and winning cases for military members for years. Contact us today to have your case evaluated by an experienced court martial lawyer with a reputation for developing winning legal strategies.

The Basics of Military Drug Use & Possession Crimes

If you’ve already been charged with drug crime, you likely know that Article 112a, UCMJ, is the punitive article governing drug offenses in the armed forces. Article 112a not only covers the wrongful use and possession of certain drugs, but it also covers the distribution, introduction, and manufacture of controlled substances as criminal offenses. 

Military service members are usually charged under Article 112a or an orders violation under Article 92, UCMJ, for conduct related to one of the following drugs or derivatives:

• Cocaine (Blow, Bump, C, Candy, Charlie, Coke, Crack, Flake, Rock, Snow, Toot)

• Heroin (Brown Sugar, China White, Dope, H, Horse, Junk, Skag, Skunk, Smack, White Horse)

• Marijuana (Blunt, Bud, Dope, Ganja, Grass, Green, Herb, Joint, Mary Jane, Pot, Reefer, Skunk, Smoke, Trees, Weed, Ashish, Boom, Hash, Hemp)

• Opium (Aunti, Aunti Emma, Big O, Black pill, Chandu, Chinese Molasses, Dopium, Dream Gun, Fi-do-nie, Gee, Guma, Midnight Oil, Zero)

• Methamphetamines (Crystal meth, Chalk, Crank, Ice)

• Mushrooms (Boomers, Little Smoke, Magic Mushrooms, Shrooms)

• LSD (Acid, Blotter, Doses, Hits, Microdots, Sugar Cubes, Trips, Tabs,Window Pane)

• MDMA (Ecstasy/Molly)

• Spice (Black Mamba, Bliss, Bombay Blue, Fake weed, Fire, Genie, K2, Moon Rocks, Skunk, Smacked, Yucatan, Zohai)

• Bath Salts (Plant Food, Bloom, Cloud Nine, Ivory Wave, Lunar Wave, Scarface, Vanilla Sky, White Lightning)

• Salvia (Maria Pastora, Sage of the Seers, Diviner’s Sage, Sally-D, Magic Mint)

Aggressively Fighting Your Drug Charges

Many military service members feel that their drug case is hopeless. They think that because they popped positive on a urinalysis, it’s over. Or because the government has text messages about the buying or selling of drugs, they’re caught dead to rights.

This IS NOT NECESSARILY TRUE.

Military prosecutors may want you to think it’s true. SJAs may want you to think it’s true. Commander’s may want you to think it’s true. Everyone on the government’s side may want you to believe it’s hopeless because then you’re an easy target for a conviction.

But weaknesses in the government case can’t be exploited if you give up and plead guilty. Evidence obtained illegally by military law enforcement like CID, NCIS, OSI, and CGIS can’t be revealed if you give up and plead guilty. Trial errors by military prosecutors can’t occur if you give up and plead guilty.   

The government agents looking to convict you of a military drug crime likely know full well that the right defense in court can make it extremely difficult for the prosecution to prove its case beyond a reasonable doubt. 

An Experienced Court Martial Lawyer Can Create Doubt In The Minds of Jurors 

• Wrongful use of drugs. Was it a mistake? Did you accidentally take the wrong prescription from the medicine cabinet? Did someone put the drug in your food or drink? Is the urinalysis test defective? Did someone at the urine testing lab tamper with your specimen? Did you eat or take something legally (like poppy seeds or cold medicine) that could cause a positive urinalysis? 

• Wrongful possession of drugs. Can the government prove they were actually your drugs? Can they prove your put them where they were found? Do they have your fingerprints or DNA from the packaging? Can they prove that you knew what you had was an illegal drug? 

• Sting Operations. Was the operation conducted unconstitutionally and therefore illegally? Were snitches and confidential informants used that have criminal records or are facing criminal charges themselves and therefore have a motive to lie? Did law enforcement entrap you?

Believing that your case is hopeless is what the government wants. They think you will just roll over and plead guilty if you think it’s hopeless. The last thing they want is for you to fight, which is why that’s the FIRST THING you need to do. 

Don’t Just Roll Over – Fight for Your Future

A military conviction for a drug offense is a terribly life-altering event. And make no mistake, the government doesn’t feel sorry for you. The military prosecutors are your ENEMY in this situation, and they didn’t come to lose or to take it easy on you.

•  A military drug offense conviction at any level will almost certainly end your military career. 

• Even a petty drug offense conviction can bring a dishonorable discharge or a bad conduct discharge and confinement time. Either may lead to a criminal record that follows the military member for the rest of their life.

• Even if your drug charge is dealt with administratively (NJP or Administrative Separation) you are likely to receive an other than honorable (OTH) characterization of service.   

In most of these scenarios, you may lose your G.I. Bill and your ability to obtain a college education, not to mention Veteran benefits.

So is there really any doubt that winning your drug case should be your number one priority if you want to continue your military career, get a college degree, or not have to explain to employers why you have a criminal record?   

If you’re serious about fighting the drug charge you’re facing, you need an experienced and aggressive court martial lawyer that will fight for your rights and your future.  Contact our office to see what type of legal strategy we can develop to fight your case.

I’m Being Offered a Fast Track Deal, Should I Take It? 

In this scenario, your command has probably given you a single page document indicating that it thinks you are guilty of a drug offense and are preparing to send you to court martial, but will ALLOW you to plead guilty at NJP instead if you agree to waive your Administrative Separation Board.

One of the goals of the “fast track” deal is to terrify you about going to court martial so you will quickly plead guilty at NJP and the command can then administratively separate you from the service with an Other Than Honorable (OTH) discharge.

A fast track deal is often no deal at all. If you are innocent, you absolutely should refuse it. And often times the government doesn’t actually have the evidence to convict you at court martial. But if you just haphazardly accept the deal out of fear, you will never know.

If you take this so called deal, your G.I. Bill benefits may disappear, along with probably every other Veteran benefit you may have been entitled to with an honorable discharge.

Instead of rushing to help the government throw you out of the service, a more sophisticated approach is to have an experienced military defense attorney evaluate your case and discuss better options that may be available.

Contact Liebenguth Law as soon as possible for a free case evaluation. 

Drug Crime Court Martial Defense Practice Areas

• Military Drug Crimes
• Drug Distribution and Trafficking
• CBD, Spice & Synthetic Drugs
• Military Urinalysis