Air Force Courts-Martial, June 2022: The Month in Review
The Air Force tried 28 courts-martial in June 2022. Drug charges appeared in 47% of cases with charge lists and assault charges in 37%, compared with 33% and 23% across the Air Force for 2022. Of 15 contested cases with a verdict, 9 ended in a full acquittal.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Short answer: The Air Force tried 28 courts-martial in June 2022. Drug charges appeared in 47% of cases with charge lists and assault charges in 37%, compared with 33% and 23% across the Air Force for 2022. Of 15 contested cases with a verdict, 9 ended in a full acquittal.
Drug and Assault Charges Were More Common
Charges are listed for 19 of the 28 cases. Each article counts once per case, so a case charging assault and a drug offense appears under both. Article 112a, wrongful use or possession of controlled substances, appeared in 47% of them, compared with 33% for the Air Force in 2022.
Article 128, assault, appeared in 37%, compared with 23%. Article 134, the general article, appeared in 21%, about the same as the yearly 20%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 11%, compared with 15%.
Article 92, failure to obey an order or regulation, appeared in 1 case (5%), lower than the 17% for the year. Article 113 (drunken or reckless operation of a vehicle), Article 128b (domestic violence), and Article 115 (communicating threats) each appeared in 1 case.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2022 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 9 | 47% | 33% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 7 | 37% | 23% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 21% | 20% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 2 | 11% | 15% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 1 | 5% | 17% |
| Art. 113 Drunken or reckless operation of vehicle | 1 | 5% | 5% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 1 | 5% | 4% |
| Art. 115 Communicating threats | 1 | 5% | 4% |
More Than Half of the Cases Were Contested
In a contested case, the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The month had 15 contested cases and 13 guilty pleas, so 54% were contested. The Air Force contested share for 2022 was 47%.
Of the 15 contested cases with a verdict, 9 ended in a full acquittal (60%) and 1 in a partial acquittal (7%). 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 45% for the year. Air Force results give one verdict per case, so a partial acquittal appears only when an appeals opinion reports it.
Members and Contested Cases
A military judge alone decided 16 cases. Members decided the rest: 10 with enlisted panels and 2 with officer panels. Members heard 43% of cases, compared with 32% across the Air Force.
Members heard 12 of the 15 contested cases (80%). The accused usually chooses the forum. Most guilty pleas go to a military judge alone, so the overall split mostly follows how many cases were contested.
Confinement in Every Conviction
Confinement was part of 100% of the 19 convictions. The median confinement was 5 months, slightly lower than the 6-month median for the Air Force in 2022. A quarter of the terms were 10 months or longer.
These are adjudged sentences, imposed at trial for every charge of conviction, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
General and Special Courts-Martial
The month had 14 general and 14 special courts-martial. The general share was 50%, compared with 57% for the year. At general courts-martial, the median confinement was 8 months, and 57% of cases were contested. At special courts-martial, the median was 4 months, and 50% were contested.
A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. Since 2019, a special court-martial tried by a military judge alone is capped at six months with no punitive discharge.
Punitive Discharges
Of 19 convicted enlisted members, 11 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (58%). That is about the same as the 59% across the Air Force. Of those 11, 4 were dishonorable.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not track. No officers were tried this month, so there were no dismissals.
Compared With June 2021
June 2021 had 24 cases, and June 2022 had 28. The contested share went from 42% to 54%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 6 of 10 to 9 of 15. Confinement followed 100% of convictions in both months.
The median confinement went from 6 months to 5 months. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 72% to 58%. The general court-martial share went from 58% to 50%. A few cases can change monthly numbers, so these comparisons show direction, not cause.
| June 2021 | June 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 24 | 28 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 42% | 54% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 6 of 10 | 9 of 15 |
| Convictions with confinement | 100% | 100% |
| Median confinement | 6 months | 5 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 72% | 58% |
| General courts-martial | 58% | 50% |
Rank, Bases, and Limits of the Records
The accused were 17 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) and 11 NCOs (E-5 to E-9). No officers were tried. That mix was more junior than the Air Force overall, where 58% were junior enlisted. Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, RAF Lakenheath, United Kingdom, Luke AFB, Arizona, and Peterson SFB, Colorado, tried 2 cases each. Fairchild AFB, Washington, tried 1. Together they account for 32% of the month's cases.
The records show trial dates, not offense dates. They do not include nonjudicial punishment, the evidence, or plea terms. Air Force records rarely list charges in full acquittals and do not report plea agreements. The charge shares above therefore mostly describe the 19 convictions.
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 2022 (28 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 2022: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- Air Force Courts-Martial, July 2022: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2022: 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.