Air Force Courts-Martial, April 2019: The Month in Review
The Air Force tried 42 courts-martial in April 2019. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 62% of the cases with a charge list, compared with 51% for the Air Force in 2019. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 4 months for the year.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Short answer: The Air Force tried 42 courts-martial in April 2019. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 62% of the cases with a charge list, compared with 51% for the Air Force in 2019. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 4 months for the year.
Drug Charges Were the Most Common
Charge lists are available for 32 of the 42 cases. Article 112a (wrongful use or possession of controlled substances) appeared in 20 of them. That share, 62%, is higher than the 51% for all Air Force cases in 2019.
Article 134 (the general article) appeared in 8 cases (25%, compared with 23%). Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) appeared in 6 (19%, compared with 14%). Article 128 (assault) appeared in 4 (12%), slightly lower than the 15% for the year. Article 86 (AWOL), Article 107, and Article 120b appeared in 2 cases each.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 20 | 62% | 51% |
| Art. 134 General article | 8 | 25% | 23% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 6 | 19% | 14% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 4 | 12% | 15% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 2 | 6% | 8% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 2 | 6% | 7% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 2 | 6% | 4% |
| Art. 109 Property other than military; waste, spoilage, destruction | 1 | 3% | 1% |
Convictions by Charge
Air Force records list charges mainly for convictions, so the table below gives counts and sentence lengths, not conviction rates. All 20 cases listing Article 112a ended in a conviction on that article, with a median confinement of 3 months. The 8 cases under Article 134 had a median of 10 months.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 20 | 20 | 3 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 8 | 8 | 10 months |
Most Sentences Were Short
Of 32 convictions, 84% included confinement. The median confinement was 3 months, slightly lower than the 4 months for the year. A quarter of sentences were 10 months or longer. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover the whole case.
Only 4 of the 32 convictions (12%) included more than one year, compared with 20% across the year. Sentences under 6 months made up 56% of convictions here, compared with 50%. Sentences of 5 years or more came in only 1 case (3%), compared with 8%.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 5 | 16% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 18 | 56% | 50% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 5 | 16% | 15% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 3 | 9% | 12% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 3% | 8% |
Court Levels and Sentence Length
Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge. Of the 42 cases, 20 were general courts-martial (48%) and 22 were special courts-martial.
The median confinement was 11 months at general courts-martial and 3 months at special courts-martial. A special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Since 2019, a special court-martial can also be tried by a military judge alone, with confinement capped at six months and no punitive discharge. This page does not separate that form from other special courts-martial.
Fewer Punitive Discharges
Of 29 convicted enlisted members, 14 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (48%). That is lower than the 57% across the Air Force in 2019. Only 2 of those 14 were dishonorable.
All 3 convicted officers or warrant officers 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.
Full Acquittals
Of the 42 cases, 10 ended in a full acquittal (24%), compared with 21% for the year. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea, so this rate is measured against all cases, not only contested cases.
Who Decided Guilt
The accused usually chooses between a military judge alone and a panel of members. A military judge alone decided guilt in 27 of the 42 cases (64%). Members decided 15: 9 enlisted panels and 6 officer panels.
Air Force records from this period rarely list a guilty plea. The forum split therefore cannot be compared with how many cases were contested, as it can for later years.
Compared With April 2018
April 2018 had 37 cases, and April 2019 had 42. The median confinement was 6 months in April 2018 and 3 months in April 2019. The enlisted punitive discharge rate was 63% and then 48%. The share of convictions with confinement was 87% and then 84%. The general court-martial share was 51% and then 48%.
Groups of this size can change with a few cases, so these figures show direction, not precise change.
| April 2018 | April 2019 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 37 | 42 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | — |
| Convictions with confinement | 87% | 84% |
| Median confinement | 6 months | 3 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 63% | 48% |
| General courts-martial | 51% | 48% |
Rank and Installations
The accused were 30 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 9 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 3 officers or warrant officers. That mix is more junior than the Air Force in 2019, where 68% of the accused were junior enlisted.
JB Lewis-McChord, Washington, tried 5 cases. Beale AFB, California, and Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, tried 3 each. Nellis AFB, Nevada, and Hill AFB, Utah, tried 2 each. Together they account for 36% of the month's cases.
What the Records Do Not Show
The records show trial dates, not offense dates. That matters in 2019, because the new rules applied only to offenses from that year on. The records do not show the evidence or plea terms, and Air Force records never report plea agreements. Nonjudicial punishment and administrative separations are not included.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Air Force courts-martial with a trial date in April 2019 (42 cases), compared with the whole year.
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- March 2019 at Air Force Courts-Martial: 30 Cases (previous / next)
- What the Air Force Tried in May 2019 (previous / next)
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2019: Year in Review (the whole year)
- Air Force Courts-Martial, April 2018: The Month in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2018: The Month in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2020: The Month in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2022: The Month in Review
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.