Guilty Pleas in Air Force Disobeying An Officer Cases: How Often, and What Came Next

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Based on 17 cases · 2016–2025 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Confinement in All 17 Sentences

All 17 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 17 of the sentences included confinement (100%). The median confinement was 7 months. For all Air Force guilty pleas in those years, the median was 4 months.

A quarter of the confinement terms were 1 year or longer. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover every charge in the case, not only Article 90.

Many Cases Carried Several Charges

15 of the 17 cases charged at least one article besides Article 90. Article 112a (drug), Article 128 (assault), Article 86 (AWOL), and Article 134 (general article) each appeared in 6 cases. Article 115 (malingering before 2019; communicating threats since) appeared in 5.

Discharges and Dismissals

A punitive discharge followed 67% of enlisted convictions: 9 bad-conduct discharges and 1 dishonorable discharge. The rate for all Air Force guilty pleas in those years was 60%, so punitive discharges were more common here.

2 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in this group, and 2 were dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

General and Special Courts-Martial

General courts-martial made up 47% of these cases (8 of 17), and special courts-martial made up the rest. A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year.

Rank and Forum

By rank, 12 of the accused were junior enlisted, 3 were NCOs, and 2 were officers. The group was more junior than all Air Force guilty pleas in those years. The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A military judge alone decided guilt in all 17 cases.

Trials by Year

The 17 trials took place from March 2020 to October 2025. The records show 3 in 2020, 2 in 2021, 3 in 2022, 5 in 2023, 0 in 2024, and 4 in 2025. No cases appear from 2016 through 2019, years when Air Force records rarely list a guilty plea.

What Changed in Military Law

Under the Military Justice Act of 2016, in force from January 1, 2019, panel sizes became fixed, plea agreements became written, and a new judge-alone special court-martial could impose at most six months of confinement and no punitive discharge. Pre-2019 offenses kept the earlier rules.

Special trial counsel, rather than commanders, have chosen whether to prosecute covered offenses since December 28, 2023. That list includes domestic violence, sexual assault, and murder. New judge-set sentencing parameters apply only when the guilty findings all concern offenses after December 27, 2023. Trial dates alone cannot show which trials from 2024 on used the new rules.

What These Records Cannot Show

Only cases that reached a courtroom are counted. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, and cases with no action are not in the records. The records do not describe the evidence, and Air Force records never report plea agreements.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 90 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: 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.