Protect Your Career and Reputation with an Experienced Court Martial Lawyer

 Are you a military service member being investigated for stealing? Have you been charged under the UCMJ for theft or larceny? Have you already been branded a thief and common criminal?

Prosecutors will boast that they have a mountain of evidence against you. They’ll say your conviction at a general or special court martial is unstoppable. They’ll use scare tactics to try and get you to quickly plead guilty. They want you to give up as soon as possible because they don’t want you get an experienced court martial lawyer that will fight for your rights.

If you do give up, if you just roll over and plead guilty without fight, your military career and your life face ruin, potentially including:

• Reduction to E-1
• Loss of benefits, including your G.I. Bill
• Jail time
• Bad Paper: A DD-214 with a dishonorable discharge, bad conduct discharge, or other than honorable (OTH) characterization of service
• Difficulty finding post-military employment

You Can Give Up and Plead Guilty or You Can Fight for Your Future

Somebody is probably pushing a plea agreement in your face and telling you should plead guilty to get this so called “good deal.” They’re probably telling you this is the best “deal” you will get and you risk losing it if you don’t hurry up and sign. Nobody wants to fight for your innocence or at least a better deal than the crooked one thrown at you.

In times like this you want an experienced defense attorney that will stand up and fight for you. You want a court martial lawyer that has litigated cases at every level of the military justice system. You need a military lawyer with a track record of winning the fights they’re in.

Liebenguth Law knows how to fight for military service members accused of larceny and theft. Jeff Liebenguth has a winning track record not only as a court martial lawyer, but as an Appellate Defense Attorney as well. Call TODAY to learn how we would investigate, prepare, and defend your case.

Fighting Back Against Charges of Larceny and Theft Under Article 121, UCMJ

Military larceny and theft charges are charged under Article 121 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), which defines larceny as any wrongful taking, obtaining, or withholding of property, either from the military or another person. Any form of theft, embezzlement, wrongful appropriation or obtaining by false pretenses could be charged as larceny under Article 121.

The nature of the conduct you are accused of drives the prosecution’s attack against you and your career. Typically, Article 121 charges allege theft involving the following:

• Forgery
• Check Fraud
• Military Property Theft
• BX, PX, or NEX Theft
• Personal property Theft
• Travel Voucher & Entitlement Fraud (BAH, OHA, DTS)
• Barracks Room Theft
• Wire Fraud
• ATM Theft
• Embezzlement

We have consistently faced off against overly confident military prosecutors that wind up seeing their case collapse after we begin representation. They prefer to avoid this and therefore rush for your guilty plea agreement.

Don’t expect any compassion from the government. Its prosecutors aim to convict you and then obtain the harshest sentence possible. You have a wife and family? They don’t care. A close relative is sick and needs your financial support? They don’t care. Your close to the end of your tour and want to use the G.I. Bill to go to college? They don’t care.

They are coming after you in a way that will not only ruin your military career, but maybe your entire life. Don’t just sit back and take it. History teaches us that only the strong survive, so steady yourself and fight for your career and your future.

If you can summons the strength to fight for the best possible outcome in your case, contact us to find out how we can help.

Defending Military Members Against Theft & Larceny

 The prosecution believes they have an airtight case against you. They think you’re a slam-dunk conviction. They have a huge head start because they only brought charges after they believed they had an insurmountable amount of evidence against you.

It’s far from hopeless though. The best defense is usually an aggressive, hard-hitting defense strategy that attacks every aspect of the government’s case. Sometimes you have to go scorched earth.

Government prosecutors don’t like formidable opponents. They want a service member to become so gripped with fear that they just wilt and accept a crummy agreement to plead guilty. They also want the service member’s attorney (often an inexperienced and free military lawyer supplied by the government) to take the easy path—a quick guilty plea.  

Experience teaches that you should fight—either for a not guilty verdict or an agreement that doesn’t handicap the rest of your life. It’s not like you’re charged with a double murder or sexual assault, so you shouldn’t be OK with accepting terms that treat you like you are.

Depending on the charges you are facing, an experienced and aggressive court martial lawyer would usually incorporate a combination of the following defense strategies in your defense:

• Show a Lack of Intent. The government has to prove that you intended to steal. But it’s not that easy to prove. You may have taken something accidentally or because you believed you were permitted to. You may have believed that you were justified in taking something. There may have been an error on someone else’s part, like finance personnel, and you didn’t realize you were overpaid.

• Expose Illegal Searches and Seizures. Military law enforcement like NCIS, CID, OSI, and CGIS do conduct search and seizure operations illegally. It may be possible to have evidence against you thrown out of court (suppressed), making the government’s case against you fall apart.

• Attack Witness Credibility. If there are witnesses against you, the government will try and present them as credible—as believable. These witnesses can often be attacked with scathing cross examinations that undermine their credibility. They may even be caught in a lie. These matters can throw doubt on the government’s case and lead to a not guilty finding.

But none of this will happen if you quickly plead guilty. Once the government has its claws in you, fighting back is about the only way to rip them out.

If you are looking for a not guilty verdict or don’t want to accept a lousy government concocted guilty-plea agreement, contact our office today to hear how we would investigate, prepare, and defend your case.

I’m Still Worried It’s Hopeless Based On What I Am Being Told – Do I Really Have A Chance?

Yes, you have a chance, but not if you surrender without a fight. Relying on the prosecutions investigation or an inexperienced lawyer that has done little to no investigation of your case is a bad plan.

The government usually misreads its own evidence and becomes overconfident and mistake prone. This can be exploited to a service member’s advantage by a good military court martial lawyer.

Experienced military defense attorneys can outlawyer less capable adversaries. We see it happen all the time.

Court Martial Lawyer with a Winning Tradition

You need a military defense attorney that has distinguished himself in trial court rooms and before military appellate courts. Where others said it couldn’t be done, we said it could and then did it. Liebenguth Law believes that no matter how bad the odds may seem, the legal skill, passion, and courage of the right legal representation can overcome them.

You owe it to yourself and your family not to settle for weak legal representation. If you do, you may pay for it for the rest of your life. Contact our office today for a free consultation regarding your military case.   

Court Martial Defense For Larceny & Financial Fraud

• Larceny and Financial Fraud
• BAH – OHA – DTS Fraud
• Procurement Card Fraud