Military Defense Litigator

Military Defense Litigator Military Lawyer - prior JAG - Experienced in court martial and administrative separation defense.

Military Lawyer representing service members in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Fayetteville, NC (Fort Liberty), CONUS, and worldwide.

06/17/2026

Invoke your right to remain silent if approached by an investigator or law enforcement (military or civilian) for questioning. Just say, I’m invoking my right to remain silent. I want to speak with a lawyer/attorney. Once you say that they should stop questioning you. If they persist, keep saying that line.







Attorney Steven Goralski

Military Lawyer representing service members in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Fayetteville, NC (Fort Bragg), CONUS, and worldwide.

Transcript:
If you’re questioned by an investigating officer or NCIS or CID, it’s best to invoke your right to remain silent and speak to an attorney.
How do you do that? You just tell the agent, ‘I’m invoking my right to remain silent, I request to speak to an attorney.’ And at that point, all questioning should stop, and you should reach out to an attorney as soon as possible. The investigating officer or special agent can reach out to you again in 14 days after they’ve given you that opportunity to speak to a lawyer. If you’ve retained a lawyer, and they approach you or they re-approach you, you just give them your lawyer’s name and number. And once they’re notified you have an attorney or lawyer, then they can no longer approach you for questioning—they have to go through your lawyer.
Like, follow, share. Take care.

06/16/2026

Administrative Investigation (Command Investigations, AR 15-6). Best approach is to initially remain silent, get an attorney, and then POTENTIALLY provide written answers, WITH the advice of an attorney.







Attorney Steven J Goralski
Military Lawyer Jacksonville, NC
Military Lawyer Fayetteville, NC

Military Lawyer representing service members in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Fayetteville, NC (Fort Bragg), CONUS, and world wide.

Video Transcript

If you're an officer or senior enlisted, and you are approached by an investigating officer, best course of action to take is let the investigating officer know that you're going to remain silent for the moment, that you need an opportunity to speak to a lawyer, and that you will get back to the investigating officer.

00:21 So, you do have the right to remain silent in administrative investigations, but for officers and senior enlisted, it's going to be subtly held against you. Let the investigating officer know that you are remaining silent, but you will get back to him or her once you speak to an attorney. Reach out to an attorney as soon as possible. Let them know your situation.

00:42 What I do when clients retain me while they're under administrative investigation is, once retained, I will reach out to the investigating officer, request written questions, provide those to the clients. They'll do a draft answer, and then we'll sit down and review that draft answer, and I'll make recommendations, we'll modify them. Once it's complete, they'll sign a right waiver and we'll turn it into the IO.

01:10 So, that's how I handle administrative investigations for officers and enlisted. Like, follow, share, take care.

06/16/2026

Win administrative separation board hearing, but still face separation. This is possible for Marines and Sailors. It requires the immediate separation authority to send it up to the Secretary of the Navy, and request separation.







Attorney Steven J Goralski
Military Lawyer Jacksonville, NC
Military Lawyer Fayetteville, NC

Military Lawyer representing service members in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Fayetteville, NC (Fort Bragg), CONUS, and world wide.

06/14/2026

Administrative Separation - right to board hearing if you have over 6 years in or if the command is recommending an Other Than Honorable (OTH) characterization of service.







Attorney Steven J Goralski
Military Lawyer Jacksonville, NC
Military Lawyer Fayetteville, NC

Military Lawyer representing service members in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Fayetteville, NC (Fort Bragg), CONUS, and world wide.

06/14/2026

Standard of Proof - Court-Martial, Article 15 / NJP, Administrative Separation.



Attorney Steven J Goralski
Military Lawyer Jacksonville, NC
Military Lawyer Fayetteville, NC

Military Lawyer representing service members in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Fayetteville, NC (Fort Bragg), CONUS, and world wide.

06/13/2026

If you deny Article 15 / NJP the commander can send you to court martial, administrative separation, written reprimand, or do nothing. Ask for the evidence and review it with a lawyer BEFORE making the decision to accept or deny.







Attorney Steven J Goralski
Military Lawyer Jacksonville, NC
Military Lawyer Fayetteville, NC

Military Lawyer representing service members in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Fayetteville, NC (Fort Bragg), CONUS, and world wide.

06/11/2026

Article 15 (NJP, Captain’s Mast) can be denied. That is the best way to beat an Article 15 / NJP. Before you make that decision, you should request the evidence against you and review it with a lawyer, so you can make an informed decision.



Attorney Steve Goralski

Military Lawyer representing service members in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Fayetteville, NC (Fort Bragg), CONUS, and worldwide.

06/10/2026

On June 8, 2026, Navy Seaman Jermiah
Copeland appeared before a military court at Naval Station Norfolk, Virginia, and pleaded guilty to the unpremeditated murder of Petty Officer 3rd Class Angelina Petra Resendiz.
On June 9, 2026, Military Judge Capt. Frank Hutchinson sentenced Copeland to 44 years in confinement — nearly four years beyond the 40-year minimum agreed to in his plea deal.

Here are the facts of the case.

Resendiz, a culinary specialist from Brownsville, Texas, was assigned to the USS James E. Williams at Naval Station Norfolk.
She was reported missing from her barracks on May 29, 2025. Her body was found 11 days later in a wooded area of the Broad Creek neighborhood, approximately 10 miles from base.

In court, Copeland admitted to strangling Resendiz in his barracks room, concealing her body in a duffel bag in his closet, and later disposing of it. He pleaded guilty to
unpremeditated murder, aggravated assault by strangulation, indecent recording, obstruction of justice, and making a false official statement. He was found not guilty of premeditated murder and s*xual assault allegations.

In addition to 44 years of confinement — to be served at the U.S. Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas — Copeland received a dishonorable discharge, forfeiture of all pay and allowances, reduction to E-1, and is required to register as a s*x offender upon release. Credit was given for one year of pretrial confinement.

Resendiz's mother, Esmeralda Castle, was present in court throughout the proceedings.

Swipe through all 5 slides for the complete factual breakdown of this case.




Attorney Steve Goralski
Military Lawyer representing service members in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Fayetteville, NC (Fort Bragg), CONUS, and worldwide.

06/10/2026

Administrative Separation - even if not court martialed for SA or SH, regulation requires that the service member face administrative separation proceedings.







Attorney Steve Goralski
Military Lawyer representing service members in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Fayetteville, NC (Fort Bragg), CONUS, and worldwide.

Video Transcript:

Even if the person is not court-martialed for s*xual assault, they still have to go to an administrative separation board. Now, what I like to do at those board hearings is, you know, not only discredit the alleged victim, if that's possible, if we have that information, facts, we've been able to track down people that believe that person to be untruthful.
Another thing I like to do is have, you know, females say that the client's not the type of person to cross a line, doesn't give them creepy vibes or anything of that nature. And also, what you want to do is you want to try to find out a possible motive to fabricate.
You know, sometimes people are forward or they're OCONUS, they no longer want to be OCONUS or forward-deployed, so they make these accusations so they can get sent back home. That's not the case all the time, but, you know, that's just one example in the jury or the board members why this individual made up the accusation. What is their motive? Their motive to fabricate.
So, you know, I look into that, and I present that to the board or the members, and that works out. Like, follow, share. Take care.

06/08/2026

Facing a serious accusation like S.A. or S.H. in the military?

Your very first steps are absolutely critical to protecting your future and your career.

In this video, we break down your primary rights and the most important action you need to take immediately under military law.

Don't make the mistake of trying to talk your way out of it—know your rights.

Watch to learn more about Article 31(b) and how to protect yourself.



Attorney Steven Goralski
Military Lawyer Jacksonville, NC
Military Lawyer Fayetteville, NC

Military Lawyer representing service members in Jacksonville, NC (Camp Lejeune), Fayetteville, NC (Fort Bragg), CONUS, and world wide.

Video Transcript
[00:00] ...invoke your right to remain silent and reach out to an attorney experienced in military law.

[00:05] Now, for those of you that come across an accusation of s*xual assault or s*xual harassment, first thing you want to do is invoke your right to remain silent and reach out to an attorney experienced in military law.

[00:19] Any statement that you provide can and it will be used against you.

[00:25] Again, invoke your right to remain silent under Article 31 Bravo and reach out to an attorney experienced in military law.

[00:32] Like, follow, share. Take care.

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