> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # July 2021 at Air Force Courts-Martial: 23 Cases - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial-july-2021/ - Published: 2026-10-28T06:53:36.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-30T08:08:24.000Z - Description: The Air Force tried 23 courts-martial in July 2021: 14 contested cases and 9 guilty pleas. Of the 14 contested cases that reached a verdict, 4 ended in a full acquittal, a 29% rate compared with 47% for the Air Force across 2021. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Air Force [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-year/) › July 2021 **Short answer:** The Air Force tried 23 courts-martial in July 2021: 14 contested cases and 9 guilty pleas. Of the 14 contested cases that reached a verdict, 4 ended in a full acquittal, a 29% rate compared with 47% for the Air Force across 2021\. Of convicted enlisted members, 68% received a punitive discharge. Based on 23 cases · July 2021 · Air Force records · data updated October 24, 2026 ## More Contested Cases, Fewer Full Acquittals The contested share was 61%, higher than the 51% for the Air Force over all of 2021\. A contested case is one in which the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. In July 2021, 14 cases were contested. Of those 14, 4 ended in a full acquittal (29%). That is lower than the 47% for the year. Another 2 ended in a partial acquittal, a finding of not guilty on at least one charge and guilty on another. Air Force results give one verdict per case, so a partial acquittal appears only when an appeals opinion reports it. ## Members Heard Most Contested Cases Members decided 52% of all cases: 8 with enlisted panels and 4 with officer panels. Across the Air Force that year, the share was 38%. A military judge alone decided the other 11. Members heard 12 of the 14 contested cases (86%). The accused usually chooses the forum. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the panel share usually follows the number of contested cases. ## More Punitive Discharges Than the Year Of 19 convicted enlisted members, 13 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (68%). That is higher than the 56% for the Air Force in 2021\. Of the 13, 5 were dishonorable. Only a general court-martial can adjudge a dishonorable discharge. No officers were tried. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not track. ## Confinement Terms Of 19 convictions, 17 included confinement. The median confinement was 5 months, about the same as the 4-month median for the year. A quarter of the terms were 2 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences. Each covers all charges of conviction and is recorded before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Time actually served can be shorter, and the records do not follow a case after trial. ## Most Cases Were General Courts-Martial The month had 15 general and 8 special courts-martial. The general share was 65%, compared with 53% across the Air Force. 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. Of the accused, 15 were junior enlisted and 8 were NCOs. That mix was similar to the Air Force overall in 2021. ## Assault, AWOL, and Sexual Misconduct Charges are listed for 19 of the 23 cases, and a case can count under several articles. Article 128, assault, appeared in 37%, compared with 27% for the year. Article 112a (wrongful use or possession of controlled substances) also appeared in 37%. Article 86, AWOL, appeared in 16%, compared with 3% across the Air Force. Article 120c, other sexual misconduct, appeared in 11%, compared with 3%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 16%, compared with 11%. Article 113, drunken or reckless operation of a vehicle, appeared in 11%, compared with 6%. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) and Article 134 (the general article) each appeared in 16%, slightly lower than their yearly shares. Air Force records rarely list charges in full acquittals. The 4 cases with a full acquittal therefore add little to this table, and the shares mostly describe cases with a conviction. | UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2021 | | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | ---------- | ------------------------------------ | | [Art. 128](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-128/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Assault | 7 | 37% | 27% | | [Art. 112a](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-112a-drug-offenses/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 7 | 37% | 35% | | [Art. 92](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-92/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Failure to obey order or regulation | 3 | 16% | 18% | | [Art. 120](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-120-sexual-assault/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Rape and sexual assault | 3 | 16% | 11% | | [Art. 134](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-134/?ref=bodiesburied.com) General article | 3 | 16% | 19% | | [Art. 86](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-86/?ref=bodiesburied.com) AWOL | 3 | 16% | 3% | | [Art. 120c](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-120c/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Other sexual misconduct | 2 | 11% | 3% | | [Art. 113](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-113/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Drunken or reckless operation of vehicle | 2 | 11% | 6% | ## Compared With July 2020 July 2020 had 29 cases, and July 2021 had 23\. The contested share went from 34% to 61%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 7 of 10 to 4 of 14. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 52% to 68%. The general court-martial share went from 52% to 65%. The median confinement went from 4 months to 5 months, and convictions with confinement went from 91% to 89%. Small monthly groups can change with a few cases, so these figures show direction, not cause. | | July 2020 | July 2021 | | ----------------------------------- | --------- | --------- | | Cases | 29 | 23 | | Contested (of pleas recorded) | 34% | 61% | | Full acquittals (decided contested) | 7 of 10 | 4 of 14 | | Convictions with confinement | 91% | 89% | | Median confinement | 4 months | 5 months | | Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 52% | 68% | | General courts-martial | 52% | 65% | ## Installations and Limits of the Records Creech AFB, Nevada, and Yokota AB, Japan, tried 2 cases each. Dyess AFB, Texas, JB Langley-Eustis, Virginia, and Hill AFB, Utah, tried 1 each. Together these installations account for 30% of the month's cases. Larger bases try more cases. The records list trial dates, not offense dates. They do not include nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations, and they do not describe the evidence or plea terms. Air Force records do not report plea agreements. Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/). ### How We Counted Air Force courts-martial with a trial date in July 2021 (23 cases), compared with the whole year. Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com. ## Related Analysis - [Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial/) (hub) - [By Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-year/) (hub) - [What the Air Force Tried in June 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial-june-2021/) (previous / next) - [What the Air Force Tried in August 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial-august-2021/) (previous / next) - [The Air Force Court-Martial Year, 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial-2021-year-in-review/) (the whole year) - [Air Force Courts-Martial, April 2018: The Month in Review](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial-april-2018/) - [Air Force Courts-Martial, April 2019: The Month in Review](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial-april-2019/) - [Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2018: The Month in Review](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial-august-2018/) - [Air Force Courts-Martial, August 2020: The Month in Review](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial-august-2020/) - [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members) ← Previous: [What the Air Force Tried in June 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial-june-2021/)Next: [What the Air Force Tried in August 2021](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-courts-martial-august-2021/) → **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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.