Joshua Tolin was selected to join the team led by Mr. Nathan Freeburg to represent a retired officer client facing general court-martial to serve as Individual Military Defense Counsel (IMDC or IMC). Under Article 31, UCMJ, service members are not only entitled to the (usually fairly inexperienced) military counsel detailed to them, but they can choose an experienced military counsel if that person is reasonably available.
After signficant pre-trial motions practice, the Retired Army Lieutenant Colonel (O-5) was exonerated after Mr. Tolin argued the court-martial was improper because the convening authority did not follow the law (which protects accused service members and retirees from frivolous prosecutions). Here, the military judge sent the case back to the convening authority to comply with the law, and because this case involved an alleged victim who destroyed evidence proving our client’s innocence on her way to talk to law enforcement, the case was dismissed.
