How to Pay for a Civilian Military Defense Lawyer

In this video, I want to discuss the real cost of a court-martial conviction and/or a discharge from the military. My name is Michael Waddington. I’m a criminal defense attorney. I’ve represented hundreds of clients charged with anything from triple murder, rape, drug trafficking, separation boards, and everything in between. If you want to check out my bio and background, please go to my website.

You see the address there. I’ve handled all sorts of cases from cases where we got the charges dismissed or dropped prior to the charges being preferred or filed all the way up to cases that went to a jury. They were all over the media. And one thing that we do is take seemingly unwinable cases, represent underdogs, and fight for the rights in the military justice system. Below you’re going to see some of the places where our cases have have been featured and covered, which includes Academy Award-winning movies, books, CNN, you name it.

Our cases have pretty much been everywhere in the media. Now, there are no guarantees in life. Hiring a civilian defense lawyer does not guarantee a particular outcome. I encourage you to speak with an expert military lawyer to discuss your options and the specifics of your case. Beware though, not all civilian defense lawyers are the same.

Just like not all people in the military are the same. You have highlevel performers and you have people that aren’t that good. You need to look and compare the experiences, the background of the attorneys you’re speaking with and the ones you’re considering hiring. However, let me remind you, past performance helps to predict future performance in everything from sports, horse racing, military performance, as well as in when hiring a criminal defense attorney. This may apply to you.

You’re either charged, you’re under investigation, you’re facing a separation or some other type of punishment in the military. You know, you need the best lawyer possible, but you’re scared. You’re losing hope. you don’t really know where to turn and you might not trust the system. You might not tr trust your chain of command.

You should be scared because a court-martial, a separation from the military can ruin the rest of your life. Can impact the rest of your life and the lives of your family members, your children for generations to come. I would not encourage you to sit back and roll the dice. Most people that roll the dice and gamble lose. You also have to be very careful because it is a real possibility that you can be given a free military lawyer that has never won a jury trial on behalf of a client.

Let me repeat that. You may be given a a lawyer that has never won a jury trial when defending a client. If you have a family member, let’s say your child has some sort of serious disease, maybe a tumor, god forbid, and there only a few doctors that are experienced at removing successively removing that tumor, and you go to the military hospital, they give you a brand new surgery resident who has never done this procedure before, but the person’s free, right? Would you settle for that person knowing that the odds are not as good, the odds of success are not as good? I would hope not.

Again, past performance helps to predict future performance in courts-martial and medical procedures and pretty much everything in life. People call me all the time and they and we listen to their side of the story and we get down to it and they they say, “Listen, I can’t afford to hire an experienced lawyer. I’m either going to go with whoever they give me or I’m going to go and hire someone that’s cheaper because I talked to a guy down the street that will do it for ne next to nothing.” You think you can’t afford an experienced lawyer, you can’t afford not to. And I’m going to go through some of the numbers and some of the some of the things that you’re going to be facing if you don’t go into a court-martial or a separation board ready to rock and roll with the best lawyer possible.

Here’s the bottom line. If you’re facing a court-martial separation or you’re simply under investigation and you’re in the military, then you’re in the fight for your life. I look at it kind of like this. In a gunfight, who would you want backing you up? You only get one shot at this.

So, in a gunfight, I put these images up here just to make a point. Would you want these guys on the left, special operators that are highly skilled that do this day in and day out with with backup support with some heavy firepower, or would you want this guy on the right? The guy on the right just doesn’t look like the type of guy you would want in a firefight with you. I would not put my life or my kids’ life in the hands of the guy on the right if it came down to going into a gun battle with al-Qaeda. While there are no guarantees, I put my money on the guys on the left.

So, what’s at stake? Most military lawyers and civilian lawyers are not going to tell you upfront what you’re looking at. They’re going to beat around the bush and make it sound like it’s not a big deal and and make prison sound like it’s a walk in the park. Well, here’s what you’re facing. If you’re facing a court-martial, you’re you’re facing getting locked up in a federal prison for possibly years.

The fact is being locked in a prison is not something that I would want happening to me or my kid. We all know what happened in prisons. It might not be like in some of the state court prisons. But for me, my biggest fears and that of my kids if they were to go to prison would be getting sexually assaulted in prison, getting some sort of disease in prison, uh not being able to see my family, my children. And basically, if you’re locked in prison for a couple years, when it comes to having intimate relations, you either have your cellmates uh or nothing.

So the the idea that you see in pre TV where your wife shows up and visits you in prison and you go off to a trailer, that doesn’t happen in military prison. A federal conviction, yeah, big deal, you may say. 5 million in potential lost income because you’re not going to be able to find a job. It’s going to be tough. Registered sex offender.

If you’re facing sex crimes, no jobs, no family, no friends. Just to make it simple, there’s a slide coming up where I’m going to show you some of the details of a sex offender conviction, but no jobs, no family, no friends about sums it up. A dishonorable discharge, loss of family. You know, I can’t tell you how many families break apart as a result of even a simple military case, even a separation. It tears families apart.

It destroys families and it destroys the lives of everyone involved. You’re going to lose all pay and allowances if you go to prison for a certain period of time. They don’t necessarily pay you generally pay you to sit in prison. You could lose millions in retirement. And I have some slides that show what you would lose if you’re sent to prison.

Loss of your military job. If you’re a E7 and you’re making about $5,500 a month and $60,000 a year with benefits, you’re going to lose that job. If you get kicked out of the military, whether with a separation or with a with some sort of a court-martial, a discharge of a court-martial, you’re going to have a heck of a time finding a job. You’re going to lose your education benefits. Uh you may have to pay back hundreds of thousands of dollars in benefits the military has given to you.

We see that all the time. Loss of possessions. You know, a lot of people say, “I can’t afford a lawyer. I’m going to run the I’m going to risk it and and and just go with a free attorney. If you go to prison, aside from everything else I just said, you’re probably going to lose your house.

You’re going to lose your cars. You’re going to lose your boat. You’re going to lose everything you own. You’re going to be selling it down at the pawn shop after the fact or your family members be doing that to be able to pay for food. On top of that, social, physical, and the emotional price of being locked up in prison.

Do you think being locked in a in a concrete box is good for you socially, physically or emotionally? Think again. Couple other things. These are things that that you can’t really put a price tag on. What about waking up in your own bed next to your loved one, having romantic relations with a person of your choosing, seeing your children, visiting your family, your mom and dad.

Let’s say mom and dad are sick. You don’t get you don’t get led out of prison to go see dad who’s suffering from cancer. You know, going to a ball game, having a birthday party for your kids, going to your kids’ school event, seeing them in a play, seeing your kid get the student of the week award or something like that. Those things are are priceless. On top of that, you’re looking at a loss of respect for yourself and others.

You’re going to be a federal convict if you’re convicted. Loss bonuses. You know, some people get reinlistment bonuses, some people get medical bonuses, depending on your job, flight pay, you could lose easily$10 to $80,000 in bonuses. Medical insurance. If you’re in the military right now and you and you get out of the military and have to go pay for medical insurance like myself who’s a civilian, you’re going to find that paying the premiums, the co-pays, and other costs, they add up really fast.

So over the course of your lifetime, you’re looking at probably about $300,000 to $2 million depending on whether or not your family has health problems. It could be higher than that. Another thing for some people, you can’t own a gun or possess a gun. You can’t vote. You can’t hold government jobs.

You can’t be involved in some labor unions. You can’t participate in federal contracts or programs. So after you’re convicted of a court-martial, sent to prison and given a dishonorable discharge, you are not going to turn around and go get a job. I mean your your job prospects are very limited. You often can’t leave the country.

Some people places won’t let you into the country if you have any sort of conviction. Lastly, for those of you that are serving in a time of war, which we’re at right now, you’re going to generally lose all your VA benefits, veterans preference, medical VA home loan benefits, and combat related benefits. That could add up to tens of thousands of dollars easily. Let me give you an example. This may sound like no big deal, but if you if you have the VA home loan available to you and you lose that, good luck trying with a federal conviction, finding and buying a house, unless you have a ton of cash saved up because you’re going to lose the VA home loan in most situations.

Yes, now you understand what you could potentially lose and what you’re facing. Are you scared? you should be, but you you should not be in complete despair. You can often fight your way out of these situations if you make the right choices. However, again, going for the cheapest choice because it’s cheaper is not a good idea.

A lot of people call me and they’re like, “Hey, I talked to this other guy. He’s a local lawyer. He’s does family law. He does a little bit of everything. He’s a lot cheaper than you are.”

Well, don’t expect a Dodge to perform like a Ferrari. Is it cheaper? Yes. Will it perform better? It depends.

If you’re trying to haul 50 kids to a softball game, maybe the Dodge Caravan is better. But if you’re trying to win a race and kick some butt, then you need to go with the Ferrari. OK? There’s no comparison. You often get what you pay for.

I encourage you to write these down when you’re kind of figuring out whether you can afford a military lawyer or whether you should hire a military lawyer, a civilian military attorney. I picked two different pay ranks, E7 with 14, 04 with 14. Now, I added in P pay BH medical tax savings and other benefits. And this is kind of what you’re looking at here. About 70 grand as an E7 and 112 as an ’04.

That’s about 5,700 a month versus $9,300 a month. That’s what you’re getting paid. If you go to jail, that stops. Now, let’s add those up over time. If you’re an E7 and you’re discharged or jailed, this is what you’re going to lose in terms of income.

One month in jail, eh, maybe not such a big deal. $5,700. Now, that’s assuming you don’t get kicked out. And 04 is going to lose about $9,000. Six months in jail, and as you know, military sentences are generally pretty stiff.

six months in jail, you’re going to lose about $34,000 aside from all the other factors of being in prison. As an ’04, you’re going to lose about $556,000. 12 months in jail, as you notice these these numbers start increasing. And 12 months in jail is not a is not an unheard of sentence, especially if you’re going in front of a military judge. And if you’re facing serious charges, that’s a light sentence.

$70,000 a year you’re going to lose and loss income as an E7 about 111 112 as an ’04 18 months you just see the numbers go up. If you’re getting nailed with a three to fiveyear sentence you’re looking at anywhere from $200,000 in lost income to over half a million dollar in lost income while you’re sitting in jail. And what happens when you’re sitting in jail? Well, your wife’s probably going to run off on you. That happens all the time.

uh your kids aren’t going to get to see you. They’re not they’re going to know daddy’s locked in prison and everything you own is going to be gone. You’re going to be starting over at zero in most cases. Retirement, let’s say you retired as an E8 at 20 years. Well, your first year you only make about $26,000, but the beauty of retirement is you get that until you die.

So assuming that you live for another 40 years and and a lot of people retire at 38 39 40 years old uh as enlisted and you’re looking at another 30 to 40 years in retirement pay and medical benefits. Now this came off of a DoD website. These numbers here by the time you’re you’re 30 years out of the military you’re looking at about $72,000 you’re going to be making with inflation a year. 3 million. OK?

If you live another 10 years, and this is when you really need the money the most because you’re not going to be working when you’re 7576, it’s going to get tough. 2 million or $100,000 a year plus medical benefits. You’re talking a lot of money. You have to save that retirement at all costs if possible. In ’05, 20 years, they’re going to be making about 46,000 to start with in retirement pay.

That’s often more than the cost of your typical experienced civilian attorney. 9 million if you retire at 20 years as an ’05 over the course of your lifetime. Now, that number can go up assuming you live more than 40 years past retirement, which is pretty common. Now, my grandma’s 97 years old. By the time you hit 70, 80 years old, you’re going to be bringing in well over 127 to 179 grand a year in retirement benefits.

Now, if you’re accused or suspected of any type of sex crime, this includes what you might not consider serious, like grabbing someone’s butt, and it’s it’s a unwanted sex sexual touching or it’s under Article 120 of the UCMJ, you face potential sex in sex offender registration. If you have a sex offender conviction, now even if you don’t get a day in jail, this will apply to you in most cases if you’re convicted. You’re going to have your name, face, address posted on the web. Every time a crime occurs, your name’s going to be brought up as a local sex offender. You’re going to be very limited with where you can live.

If you don’t believe me, go online and Google places where a sex offender can live. And there are very few places in most communities where you can live. You’re basically be stuck living on the outskirts of town in a trailer park somewhere with a bunch of other sex offenders. The other thing is if you do have neighbors, then many times they’re going to know you’re a sex offender. So you find a nice neighborhood, it’s it’s quaint, you move in.

Now you’re living amongst a bunch of other people and they find out or you have to tell them or or you’ll be required to tell them, “Hey, listen. I’m I’m a sex offender.” You’re going to have a lot of people hating you and often you’re going to be forced out of the neighborhood. Imagine going to the local barbecue and and everybody knows you’re a sex offender. Who’s going to want to be your friend?

Seriously, it’s going to be tough. You also cannot live near a school, daycare, park, public pool, and you can’t go anywhere where children congregate. Now, this list is not exhaustive. There’s a there’s a lot more places you can’t go and where place you can’t live. But for example, I had a recent client that was telling me in his state that he can’t go to a movie theater, a mall, a sporting event, a shopping center, a library, or his kid’s school, or in other words, any place a kid congregate.

Kids can congregate. Employment consequences. If you’re a sex offender, who’s going to hire you first of all? And how can they hire? If you’re a convicted sex offender, you’re a federal convict.

you’re going to be basically limited to hard labor type jobs. Now, I had a client that said, “Oh, no big deal. I’ll start my own business.” Guess what? In most states, if you’re a convicted sex offender, you cannot possess or own or have in your house anything that connects to the internet.

Phone, computer, iPad, television, even some cars have internet connections where you can download info on the internet. Can’t have it. Good luck starting a business unless you’re picking up dog crap in someone’s backyard or mowing lawns where you can’t have access to a printer. I mean, you even then, how are you going to print flyers and check your bank account statements if you’re a sex offender and you don’t have internet access? It doesn’t make any sense.

I had another client who told me, “Ah, no big deal. I’ll just go get an education.” Good luck getting into a university. Number one. Number two, there’s so many things online that are done online, such as looking for for checking your grades, researching term papers, applying for online.

Some schools require an online application. You can’t do it if you’re a convicted sex offender in most states. Imagine you you’re hired by someone and and your boss is like, “Hey, email me that report. I’m sorry, sir. I can’t email you the report.

I’m a sex offender. I can’t have access to email.” I mean, imagine that happening. Uh, but the point is you’re not going to have a job. You can’t even check sports scores online if you’re a sex offender in most states because you can’t access the internet.

Family consequences. You’re not going to be allowed to be around children in most circumstances unless you’re supervised and you get permission. That means no family birthday parties, barbecues, yeah, maybe without kids if you can find a place to live. Sleepovers for your kids, family reunions, little league ball games for your kid. No family night with the kids, no movie night uh at the local theater.

It just it’s mindboggling when you sit down and think about the lifestyle changes that you’re going to have to make. And and here’s what here’s a fact. Most men lose their families and their children after a sex offender conviction. If you’re in a c if you’re not in a divorce right now and you end up in a divorce, this is going to be grounds to probably take uh custody off of you. If you’re going through a custody battle or you have children that are not in your primary custody, you’re going to suffer because that’s leverage that your spouse is going to use against you.

Your ability to be a dad will be severely limited. Now, this applies again to simple things like, “Oh, I went out with someone. We got drunk when I was 21. She claims that she was too drunk and now I’m convicted.” Yes, these same things apply because you would be a convicted sex offender.

There is some legislation out there, some laws out there, uh, that I’ve heard of. They require you to have a neon green sex offender license plate. So, you now I think you should understand the serious stakes, uh, and why it’s important to bring someone into a case that is experienced, that has a proven track record, and just not going with the cheapest guy or some guy who just got out of the military. How do you pay for a civilian lawyer? May be wondering, well, that’s a big question we get asked in almost every case.

Some people pay with credit cards. Some people have savings. Some people have family members that support them. They call and talk to their family members and get loans. Family members uh will give them rally together.

You’ll be surprised. Some people have cash in their tsp stocks. If you have a seriously, if you have a Mercedes and a boat like many people call me have just sell your car, okay? Because you’re going to lose the car and you’re going to lose your your bass boat anyway. This idea that everything’s going to just work out is is usually not what happens if you just go in there willy-nilly.

Some people get a second mortgage on their home or borrow money. If you don’t take this seriously and you go in go into the situation halfcocked, then it’s going to impact you for the rest of your life. And again, like I said, your family as well. If you want to call us to discuss your case, here’s my contact information and my website. I encourage everybody to exercise due diligence.

Look into the background, testimonials, client reviews, and the track record of any attorney that they’re considering hiring. Don’t just look at someone’s website and be like, “Oh, their website’s pretty. It has a lot of really pretty pictures. This guy says he fights. He’ll fight for me.”

No, you want to see some proof and background of the attorney’s experience before you give them your hard-earned money. Because if you give some lawyer 20, 30, $40,000 and then you get into court and you find out that attorney has only won three cases in his entire life, just got off of active duty and really doesn’t know what he’s doing, you’re stuck. Your kid’s stuck with that attorney that is that is not very skilled, is probably not going to get the best outcome possible. So, if you have any questions, check us out online. Give us a call.

Set up a consultation. But I encourage people to not call me if you’re not serious about fighting your case and protecting your rights. We often vet our clients, potential clients, figure out if it’s even a case we want to take, if it’s a case worth fighting, and then figure out if we’re a good fit. So, there’s our contact information. Please give me a call.