Air Force Courts-Martial, January 2020: The Month in Review
The Air Force tried 21 courts-martial in January 2020. A punitive discharge followed 83% of enlisted convictions, compared with 50% across the Air Force for all of 2020. General courts-martial made up 67% of the month's cases, compared with 51% for the year.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › January 2020
Short answer: The Air Force tried 21 courts-martial in January 2020. A punitive discharge followed 83% of enlisted convictions, compared with 50% across the Air Force for all of 2020. General courts-martial made up 67% of the month's cases, compared with 51% for the year.
Punitive Discharges in Most Enlisted Convictions
For enlisted members, a court-martial can adjudge 2 kinds of punitive discharge: a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. In January 2020, 83% of convicted enlisted members received one: 6 bad-conduct discharges and 4 dishonorable discharges. The Air Force share for the full year was 50%.
The month's 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, a separate process these records do not include.
Most Cases Were General Courts-Martial
Of the 21 cases, 14 were general courts-martial and 7 were special courts-martial. The general share was 67%, compared with 51% for the Air Force in 2020.
Only a general court-martial can adjudge a dishonorable discharge or more than one year of confinement. A special court-martial is capped at one year. Since 2019, a special court-martial tried by a military judge alone is capped at six months with no punitive discharge. The records do not show why a case was sent to one level or the other.
Confinement Terms
Confinement was part of 92% of the 13 convictions. The median confinement was 4 months, the same as the Air Force median for 2020. A quarter of the terms were 3 years or longer.
These are adjudged sentences. They show what the court imposed for all charges of conviction, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
Contested Cases and Their Verdicts
Only 12 of the 21 records list a plea. Of those, 11 were contested and 1 was a guilty plea. In a contested case, the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 92%, compared with 48% for the Air Force in 2020. That figure describes only the records with a plea.
Of the 11 contested cases that reached a verdict, 55% ended in a full acquittal, slightly lower than the 58% for the year. Another 2 cases ended in a partial acquittal, with the accused found not guilty of at least one charge and guilty of another. Air Force results give one verdict per case, so a partial acquittal appears only when an appeals opinion reports it.
Members Heard Every Contested Case
Members decided 55% of cases with a forum listed: 8 with enlisted panels and 3 with officer panels. A military judge alone decided the other 9.
Members heard 11 of the 11 contested cases (100%). The accused usually chooses the forum. In this month, every contested case on record was decided by a panel.
Drug and Sexual Assault Charges
Charges are listed for 13 cases, and one case can count under several articles. Article 112a, wrongful use or possession of controlled substances, appeared in 62%, compared with 51% for the year. Article 134, the general article, appeared in 31%, compared with 22%.
Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 15% of the listed cases, compared with 7% across the Air Force. Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) also appeared in 15%, compared with 8%. Article 86 (AWOL), Article 107 (false official statements), and Article 128 (assault) each appeared in 15%. Article 89, disrespect toward or assault of a superior officer, appeared in 1 case. Few cases have charge lists, so each case changes its share by a large amount.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 8 | 62% | 51% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 31% | 22% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 2 | 15% | 8% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 2 | 15% | 8% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 2 | 15% | 8% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 2 | 15% | 17% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 2 | 15% | 7% |
| Art. 89 Disrespect toward superior officer; assault of superior officer | 1 | 8% | 1% |
Compared With January 2019
January 2019 had 24 cases, and January 2020 had 21. The median confinement went from 7 months to 4 months. Convictions with confinement went from 80% to 92%. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 63% to 83%, and the general court-martial share went from 50% to 67%.
The earlier month has no contested share on record. Monthly groups this small can change with a few cases, so the comparison shows direction only. The records cannot show what caused any change.
| January 2019 | January 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 24 | 21 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | 92% |
| Convictions with confinement | 80% | 92% |
| Median confinement | 7 months | 4 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 63% | 83% |
| General courts-martial | 50% | 67% |
Rank, Location, and Limits of the Records
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 67% of the accused, NCOs 29%, and officers 5%. The junior enlisted share across the Air Force was 66%. Nellis AFB, Nevada, and Eielson AFB, Alaska, tried 2 cases each. Shaw AFB, South Carolina, Kadena AB, Japan, and Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, tried 1 each. Together they account for 33% of the month's cases.
The records show trial dates, not offense dates. They do not include nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations, and they do not describe the evidence or any plea terms. Air Force records rarely list charges in full acquittals and do not report plea agreements.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Air Force courts-martial with a trial date in January 2020 (21 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)
- December 2019 at Air Force Courts-Martial: 25 Cases (previous / next)
- Air Force Courts-Martial, February 2020: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2020: Year in Review (the whole year)
- Air Force Courts-Martial, April 2018: The Month in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial, April 2019: The Month in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2018: The Month in Review
- Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2020: 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.