Ernesto C. Ernesto Gapasin continues to obtain outstanding results for his clients and attributes much of his success to years of experience, solid and disciplined courtroom skills, and a diligent work ethic. Ernesto has been a licensed attorney since November , when he became a member of the State Bar of Nevada and then became a licensed attorney in Missouri in As a result, he aggressively sought an assignment to Okinawa, Japan, as a Defense Counsel.
He established and ran the first-ever Trial Defense Service office on Okinawa that served soldiers in Okinawa, mainland Japan, and Korea. Harkening back to his past experiences as a criminal defense lawyer in Las Vegas, Nevada, Ernesto established a policy of aggressively contesting all cases.
He developed a reputation for wargaming a court-martial from beginning to end with an aggressive cross-examination style that resulted in a number of acquittals in Okinawa, mainland Japan, and Korea. Ernesto worked on a number of high-profile cases that led him to various locales in the Pacific Rim in order to conduct pre-trial investigations. In one high-profile case, Ernesto even took depositions in the city of Manila, Philippines, in order to effectively defend his client against rape charges.
This resulted in the dismissal of rape charges despite the highly politicized nature of the case involving his U. The dismissal was reported on the first page of local and national papers.
As the Senior Defense Counsel, Ernesto oversaw hundreds of courts-martial and separation boards that litigated at this very busy field office. Although Senior Defense Counsels are not typically expected to try cases, Ernesto broke the mold, trying a number of courts-martial as the Senior Defense Counsel, and achieving a high rate of success in an incredibly high number of contested trials.
