As others have pointed out, no free military lawyer for cases that do not fall under the Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ). The most help for non-UCMJ stuff you can expect is preparing a will or advanced directive or maybe notarizing some things (again assuming the military lawyer is also credentialed to do those things in the state).snatchel wrote:Side note that I'm not sure anyone has considered--and I didn't see it mentioned. Legal assistance is free if you are military and use military lawyers. That said, if I were him and I was innocent, I would fight the case too. I'd have nothing to lose monetarily other than what would be lost anyway (the TRP). He can afford to ride it out.
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If there was no sign and no one told him to his face he couldn't carry and people became aware he was carrying in a benign fashion (inadvertent display), that would seem to be a pretty easy win. The alcohol issue greatly clouds things tho, especially if he admitted alcohol use. That will be tough one for his (civilian) attorney to walk back.
And while we are on military law and such, if he loses in civilian court, he is at least eligible for yet more trouble on post. At the very least his performance report would take a big hit that will follow him forever, and I would not be surprised if he were formally reprimanded (also not career enhancing) or even hit with an Article 15 ("Non-judicial punishment" i.e. not a criminal conviction, but most definitely not career enhancing). He can refuse to accept an Article 15, but they are usually backed up with the possibility of a UCMJ (criminal) charge for some kind of misconduct.
And if he does win in civilian court...he is still eligible for all of the above if his superiors think it proper. Unlikely he is going to come out of this completely unscathed.