A Criminal Investigation is an Enormous Problem for a Service Member  

Evidence of Innocence May Be Lost

You may not know it, but if you are being investigated by the military, your command and military investigators often already think you are guilty and therefore are doing everything in their power to gather all the evidence they can to prove it.  In this rush to judgment, evidence showing a service member to be not guilty can be ignored, overlooked, contaminated, or destroyed altogether.  Meanwhile, the service member sits utterly helpless and alone.    

Nobody is Advocating for the Service Member

Making matters worse, you will not be assigned that free uniformed lawyer (usually an officer in your service) until AFTER charges are brought against you.  That’s right, while a team of Government investigators with near unlimited resources are scrutinizing your life for the crime you are suspected of (as well as any other UCMJ violations), not a single person is assigned to look out for your interests until long after the investigation is complete.  But by that time evidence of innocence may have been damaged or totally ruined, and with it your hopes of exoneration. 

Interrogation

The last investigative step that is usually taken by the Government is the interrogation of the service member by CID (Army/Marine Corps), NCIS (Navy/Marine Corps), OSI (Air Force), or CGIS (Coast Guard).  For a command investigation or event-driven immediate arrest, you will likely be asked to give a statement by the command’s Investigating Officer or immediately interrogated by Military Police or Security Forces at their station. 

What makes an interrogation so frustrating and terrifying is that investigators can LIE to you and use ploys to mislead or lull you into a false sense of security, and repeatedly do.  In fact, law enforcement agents are specifically trained on how to use lies and ploys to get you to talk—to get a full confession or statements against your interest that can be presented by prosecutors to secure a conviction.  The result can be a false confession that seals your fait or your own statements strung together to paint a picture of guilt where none exists.  And make no mistake, INNOCENT people are convicted as a result.   

If you discover that you are under investigation, there can be no better time to get a seasoned military lawyer to protect your interests, stand up for your rights, investigate your case, and steer you through the incredibly stressful process.  If you wait, there is a real danger that the outcome of your case will be more severe than if you retained legal counsel. 

In the end, whether the investigation results in the command moving for adverse administrative action (i.e., written reprimand or administrative separation) nonjudicial punishment (NJP, Article 15), or a court-martial, having legal representation during the investigative stage is incredibly important because your career, reputation, freedom, and future wellbeing are all at stake.