January 2023 at Air Force Courts-Martial: 24 Cases

Trends › By Year › January 2023

Based on 24 cases · January 2023 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026

Half of the Contested Cases Ended in a Full Acquittal

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. In January 2023, 14 accused contested at least one charge and 10 pleaded guilty. The contested share was 58%.

The 14 contested cases ended in 7 full acquittals, where the accused was found not guilty of every charge. Another 3 ended in partial acquittals, where the accused was found not guilty of some charges and guilty of others. The full-acquittal rate of 50% compares with 56% for the Air Force in 2023. Air Force results report one verdict per case, so a partial acquittal appears only when an appeals opinion mentions it.

Most General Courts-Martial Were Contested

At the 13 general courts-martial, 85% of cases were contested, and the median confinement was 2 years. At the 11 special courts-martial, 27% were contested, and the median confinement was 52 days.

General courts-martial made up 54% of the month's cases. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement. Since 2019, a special court-martial tried by a military judge alone is capped at six months with no punitive discharge.

Who Heard the Contested Cases

A military judge alone decided 16 cases. Members decided the rest: 7 with enlisted panels and 1 with an officer panel. Members heard 33% of all cases, lower than the 40% for the year.

Members heard 8 of the 14 contested cases (57%). The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel decides guilt. Most guilty pleas go to a military judge alone, so the overall split mostly follows how many cases were contested.

Confinement Followed Nearly Every Conviction

Confinement was part of 94% of the 17 convictions. The median confinement was 6 months, compared with a 5-month median for the Air Force in 2023. A quarter of the terms were 2.5 years or longer.

These are adjudged sentences. They cover every charge of conviction and come before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Punitive Discharges

Of 16 convicted enlisted members, 8 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (50%). That is less often than the 58% across the Air Force in 2023. Of those 8, 4 were dishonorable discharges.

The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not include.

Which Articles Were Charged

Charges are listed for 17 of the 24 cases, and a case can appear under more than one article. Article 112a, wrongful use or possession of controlled substances, was the most common charge, in 35% of cases. The share for the Air Force that year was 28%.

Article 115, communicating threats, appeared in 12%, compared with 8%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 18%, about the same as the yearly 16%. Article 134 (the general article) appeared in 18%, about the same as the yearly 19%. Article 128b (domestic violence), Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation), and Article 128 (assault) each appeared in 12%. Article 114 (endangerment offenses) appeared in 1 case.

Air Force records rarely list charges in full acquittals, and this month had 7 full acquittals. The charge shares therefore mostly describe cases with a conviction.

A Junior Group of Accused

Of the accused, 20 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 3 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 was an officer or warrant officer. Across the Air Force in 2023, junior enlisted members were 62% of the accused. January therefore had a more junior group than the year.

Junior enlisted members are in grades E-1 to E-4. For them, as for other enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge.

Bases and Limits of the Records

Minot AFB, North Dakota, and FE Warren AFB, Wyoming, each tried 3 cases. Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, Offutt AFB, Nebraska, and Kirtland AFB, New Mexico, tried 1 each. Together these installations account for 38% of the month's cases. Larger installations try more cases overall.

The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They include courts-martial only, not nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations. They do not describe the evidence or report plea agreements.

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.