What the Air Force Tried in June 2021
The Air Force tried 24 courts-martial in June 2021. Of 10 contested cases with a verdict, 6 ended in a full acquittal (60%, compared with 47% for the Air Force across 2021). All 18 convictions included confinement, with a median of 6 months, compared with 4 months for the year.
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Short answer: The Air Force tried 24 courts-martial in June 2021. Of 10 contested cases with a verdict, 6 ended in a full acquittal (60%, compared with 47% for the Air Force across 2021). All 18 convictions included confinement, with a median of 6 months, compared with 4 months for the year.
Verdicts in Contested Cases
A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. This month had 10 contested cases and 14 guilty pleas. The contested share was 42%, lower than the 51% for the Air Force in 2021.
Of those 10 contested cases, 6 ended in a full acquittal (60%) and 2 in a partial acquittal (20%). A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. The full-acquittal rate was higher than the 47% for the year. Air Force results give one verdict per case, so a partial acquittal appears only when an appeals opinion reports it.
A guilty plea ends in a finding of guilt. Each of the month's 18 convictions came from either a guilty plea or a contested case that ended in a conviction on at least one charge.
Every Conviction Included Confinement
All 18 convictions included confinement (100%). The median confinement was 6 months, longer than the 4-month median for the Air Force in 2021. A quarter of the terms were 1.5 years or longer.
These are adjudged sentences. They show what the court imposed at trial for all charges of conviction, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Time actually served can differ. The records do not show pretrial confinement credit or early release.
Threats and Assault Charges
Charges are listed for 18 of the 24 cases, and a case with three articles appears in three rows. Article 128, assault, was the most common charge, in 39% of cases, compared with 27% for the year. Article 115, communicating threats, appeared in 17%, compared with 4%.
Article 134, the general article, appeared in 33%, compared with 19%. Article 128b (domestic violence) appeared in 11%, compared with 5% for the year. Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) also appeared in 11%, compared with 5%. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) appeared in 22%, compared with 18%.
Article 112a, wrongful use or possession of controlled substances, appeared in 33%, about the same as the 35% for the year. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 11%, the same as the yearly 11%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 7 | 39% | 27% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 6 | 33% | 35% |
| Art. 134 General article | 6 | 33% | 19% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 4 | 22% | 18% |
| Art. 115 Communicating threats | 3 | 17% | 4% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 2 | 11% | 5% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 2 | 11% | 5% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 2 | 11% | 11% |
General and Special Courts-Martial
The month had 14 general and 10 special courts-martial. The general share was 58%, compared with 53% across the Air Force. At general courts-martial, 57% of cases were contested, and the median confinement was 1.5 years. At special courts-martial, 20% were contested, and the median was 4 months.
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year. Since 2019, a judge-alone special court-martial is capped at six months with no punitive discharge.
Punitive Discharges
Of 18 convicted enlisted members, 13 received a punitive discharge: 10 bad-conduct and 3 dishonorable. The Air Force share for 2021 was 56%.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. Administrative separation is handled outside the court-martial system and is not in these records.
Who Decided Guilt?
A military judge alone decided 17 cases. Members decided the rest: 6 with enlisted panels and 1 with an officer panel. Members heard 29% of all cases, compared with 38% for the year.
Members heard 7 of the 10 contested cases (70%). The accused usually chooses the forum. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the overall split mostly follows how many cases were contested.
Who Was Tried and Where
The accused were 16 junior enlisted members and 8 NCOs. That mix was similar to the Air Force overall in 2021. No officers or warrant officers were among the accused.
Ramstein AB, Germany, tried 3 cases. Tinker AFB, Oklahoma, Peterson SFB, Colorado, Luke AFB, Arizona, and Sheppard AFB, Texas, tried 2 each. Together they account for 46% of the month's cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so these counts do not show a problem at any base.
Limits of the Records
The records show trial dates, not offense dates. They cover courts-martial only, not nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations. They do not describe the evidence or plea terms. Air Force records rarely list charges in full acquittals, so the charge shares above mostly describe cases with a conviction. Air Force records 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 June 2021 (24 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)
- Air Force Courts-Martial, May 2021: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- July 2021 at Air Force Courts-Martial: 23 Cases (previous / next)
- The Air Force Court-Martial Year, 2021 (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.