Buckley Air Force Base, Colorado–An Air Force Senior Airman (E-4) tested positive on a unit sweep drug test of the local security forces squadron, in the middle of a long holiday. Mr. Tolin joined this E-4’s detailed Area Defense Counsel to fully litigate the case, resulting in a full acquittal in less than ten minutes of deliberations.
While deliberations were short, the preparation was anything but. This case not only had a positive urinalysis for benzoylecgonine, a known metabolite of cocaine, but the client had also made concerning statements to his supervision on the way to the urinalysis collection and to a security forces investigator.
Mr. Tolin and the client’s detailed Area Defense Counsel brought a full-scale litigation approach, filing numerous motions to exclude evidence, and offering client-supported, more-than-reasonable plea offers. Mr. Tolin and his team fought against the unit sweep for its uneven approach to who was tested, and conducted a full-scale counter investigation, finding multiple witnesses to support its “cocaine fairy” defense for unknowing ingestion at the downtown Denver bars they were able to prove the client visited the night before.
After making his closing argument, the officer member panel returned a verdict after less than ten minutes of deliberations–while the military judge was still correcting typographical errors in her written member instructions.
This litigated full acquittal allowed this security forces member to complete his enlistment, earning an honorable separation for completion of his enlisted term of service (ETS), so this now-veteran could attend college using his Post-9/11 G.I. Bill to improve his life.