What Sentence Follows an Air Force Endangerment Conviction?

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Based on 13 cases · 2021–2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Confinement Was Longer Than the Air Force Median

The median confinement in these 13 cases was 10 months. Across all Air Force convictions from 2021 to 2025, the median was 5 months. Confinement was part of 92% of the sentences.

Some sentences were much longer than the median. A quarter of the sentences that included confinement were 3 years or longer.

These are adjudged sentences: the sentence announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case, not only the endangerment charge.

Other Charges in the Same Cases

Article 114 was the only charge in 3 of the 13 cases. Article 113 (drunken or reckless driving) and Article 134 (general article) each appeared in 4. Article 112a (drug), Article 87a (resisting apprehension), and Article 115 (communicating threats) each appeared in 2.

Because a sentence covers the whole case, the confinement figures above include punishment for these other charges.

How Many Received a Punitive Discharge?

8 of the 13 convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge: 5 bad-conduct discharges and 3 dishonorable discharges. That share, 62%, was slightly higher than the 59% for all Air Force convictions in those years.

A punitive discharge is part of the court-martial sentence. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation.

General and Special Courts-Martial

6 cases were general courts-martial and 7 were special courts-martial. The general court-martial share was 46%, lower than the 52% for all Air Force convictions in those years.

A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Pleas and Who Decided Guilt

12 of the 13 records list the plea. 8 accused pleaded guilty and 4 contested at least one charge. The contested share was 33%, about the same as the 32% for all Air Force convictions in those years.

A military judge alone decided 11 cases. Members decided 2, and both were enlisted panels. That is 15% of the cases with the forum listed. The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt.

Rank and Yearly Counts

10 of the accused were junior enlisted members and 3 were NCOs. No officers appear in these cases. The group was more junior than all Air Force convictions in those years.

The cases were tried between January 2021 and May 2025. There were 5 in 2021, 0 in 2022, 4 in 2023, 3 in 2024, and 1 in 2025.

Law Changes and What the Records Leave Out

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. When every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence under new sentencing parameters. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so the trials from 2024 on cannot be sorted into old-rule and new-rule cases.

The records do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. Air Force records rarely list the charges in a full acquittal and never report plea agreements, so this page gives no acquittal figures for this offense.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

About the author. Jocelyn C. Stewart is a retired Army JAG with more than 24 years of trying courts-martial and more than 200 jury trials. She hosts Where All The Bodies Are Buried and runs the Law Office of Jocelyn C. Stewart. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.