Zachary J. Ray, Army Counsel of Record

22Cases

0As defense counsel

22As trial counsel

7Contested (not guilty or mixed plea)

As Trial Counsel (Prosecuting)

Average Contests Per Year: 1.4

22Cases

7Contested

71%Acquitted, contested cases (5 of 7)

29%Partial acquittal, contested cases (2 of 7)

Pleas When Prosecuting

Guilty15 (68%)
Not Guilty7 (32%)

Plea Agreements

Plea agreement15 (68%)
No plea agreement7 (32%)

Who Decided the Case

Judge Alone16 (73%)
Enlisted Panel6 (27%)

Contested Panel Cases: 6 of 7

Enlisted Panel6 of 7
Officer Panel0 of 7

Findings When Prosecuting, All Cases

Convicted15 (68%)
Partial Acquittal2 (9%)
Acquitted5 (23%)

Contested Findings (Prosecuting)

Decided By	Cases	Convicted	Partial	Acquitted
Judge Alone	1	0	1	0
Enlisted Panel	6	0	1	5

Sentences When Prosecuting

Enlisted (16 Convictions)

BCD8 of 16
DD4 of 16
No Punitive Discharge4 of 16

Officers and Warrant Officers (1 Conviction)

Dismissal1 of 1

No Punitive Discharge

4 of 16 Enlisted Convictions

Plea agreement3 of 4
No plea agreement1 of 4

Member Retained: 0 of 1 Officer Conviction

No dismissal0 of 1

75%Punitive discharge, enlisted (12 of 16)

94%Confinement (16 of 17 convictions)

12 moMedian confinement

5.3 yrsLongest confinement

UCMJ Articles When Prosecuting

Article	Cases	Contested	Convicted	Acquitted
Art. 128b Domestic violence	7	3	4	3
Art. 128 Assault	6	2	5	1
Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault	5	3	2	3
Art. 134 General article	5	1	5	1
Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation	4	0	4	0
Art. 109 Property other than military; waste, spoilage, destruction	2	1	1	1
Art. 115 Communicating threats	2	0	2	0
Art. 120c Other sexual misconduct	2	1	1	1
Art. 80 Attempts	2	0	2	0
Art. 93 Cruelty and maltreatment	2	0	2	0

Judges, Most Cases Together

Opposing Counsel, Most Cases

Michael R. Yosua 6
Matthew S. Fields 5
Julia M. Farinas 4
William S. Hayes 4
Brian Johnson 2
Courtney M. Plante 2
Nathaniel W. Eliasen 2
Scott J. Pullar 2

Where

Vicenza (Europe) 6
Fort Lee 5
Joint Base Langley-Eustis 4
Kaiserslautern (Europe) 2
Vilseck (Europe) 2
Fort Bragg 2
Fort Knox 1

Court-Martial Data and Trends

Data from public court-martial records on the installations and UCMJ articles in these cases.

More Army Lawyers

Know Your Judge

Counsel of record means this lawyer is listed as defense counsel or trial counsel in the public record of the case. Most cases list more than one lawyer on each side, and the records do not say who led or who argued, so the numbers describe cases this lawyer was counsel on, not individual wins or losses. Pages cover military counsel only; civilian counsel appear in lists by name. Percentages are shown for every count, however small, so check the number of cases behind each one. The Army records say whether there was a plea agreement, not what it said; Air Force records do not report plea agreements, and many Air Force records from 2016 to 2020 do not list the plea. In the article tables one case counts under each article charged, and Air Force records rarely list the charges in cases that ended in acquittal (those show as Charges not listed in the record). Member Retained means the sentence did not include a punitive discharge; it does not rule out a later administrative separation. Mixed Plea* means the record lists a guilty plea but the case ended in a partial acquittal, so at least one charge was contested (a mixed plea, or a guilty plea to a lesser offense). Contested cases are those with a not guilty or mixed plea, plus any case that ended in an acquittal or partial acquittal even when the record does not list the plea.

Source: public records of trial published by each service under Article 140a, UCMJ, as collected for the Military Trial Results page (data updated October 29, 2026). Counts reflect only the cases in this data and may be incomplete. Names are shown as published in the source records.

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