Air Force Courts-Martial, October 2019: The Month in Review
The Air Force tried 32 courts-martial in October 2019. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 60% of cases with charges listed, compared with 51% for the Air Force in all of 2019. Of convicted enlisted members, 46% received a punitive discharge, lower than the 57% for the year.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › October 2019
Short answer: The Air Force tried 32 courts-martial in October 2019. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 60% of cases with charges listed, compared with 51% for the Air Force in all of 2019. Of convicted enlisted members, 46% received a punitive discharge, lower than the 57% for the year.
Drug Charges Were the Most Common
Records list charges for 25 of the 32 cases, and an article counts once per case even when charged several times. Article 112a, wrongful use or possession of controlled substances, appeared in 15 of those 25. No other article appeared in more than 16% of cases.
Article 134, the general article, appeared in 16%, compared with 23% for the year. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) appeared in 12%, compared with 14%. Article 115, which the records label malingering before 2019 and communicating threats since, appeared in 2 cases, as did Article 86 (AWOL), Article 107 (false official statements), Article 120 (rape and sexual assault), and Article 121 (larceny).
Air Force records rarely list charges when a case ends in a full acquittal, so these shares come mostly from cases with a conviction.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 15 | 60% | 51% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 16% | 23% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 3 | 12% | 14% |
| Art. 115 Malingering before 2019, communicating threats since | 2 | 8% | 2% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 2 | 8% | 6% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 2 | 8% | 8% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 2 | 8% | 4% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 2 | 8% | 8% |
Fewer Punitive Discharges
Of 24 convicted enlisted members, 11 received a punitive discharge: 10 bad-conduct discharges and 1 dishonorable discharge. That share of 46% is lower than the 57% for the Air Force in 2019.
A punitive discharge is part of the sentence itself. For officers the equivalent is a dismissal, and the 1 convicted officer or warrant officer in October 2019 was dismissed. A sentence with no punitive discharge can still be followed by administrative separation, which these records do not show.
Mostly Short Confinement Terms
Of 25 convictions, 22 included confinement (88%). The median confinement was 3 months, close to the 4 months for the year. A quarter of the terms were 4 months or longer.
Terms under 6 months were part of 72% of convictions, compared with 50% for the year. No conviction included a term of 6 months to 1 year. Only 4 of 25 convictions (16%) included more than one year, compared with 20% across the Air Force. No conviction included 5 years or more.
These are adjudged sentences covering every charge in a case. They come before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Air Force for all of 2019 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 3 | 12% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 18 | 72% | 50% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 0 | 0% | 15% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4 | 16% | 12% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 8% |
Court Level and Confinement
There were 16 general courts-martial and 16 special courts-martial. The general court-martial share of 50% was the same as the year. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge.
The median confinement was 8 months at general courts-martial and 2 months at special courts-martial. A special court-martial can impose a bad-conduct discharge, which is a punitive discharge.
Verdicts and Forum
A full acquittal means not guilty of all charges. Full acquittals were 7 of the 32 cases (22%), compared with 21% for the year. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea, so the rate is measured against all cases, not only contested cases.
A military judge alone decided guilt in 18 cases (56%). Members decided the other 14: 7 enlisted panels and 7 officer panels. The accused usually decides whether a military judge alone or a panel decides guilt. Guilty pleas are rarely recorded in this period, so the records cannot show how many of the judge-alone cases were pleas.
Who Was Charged and Where
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 25 of the 32 accused, with 5 NCOs and 2 officers or warrant officers. That group is more junior than the Air Force overall, where 68% were junior enlisted in 2019.
Beale AFB, California, tried 3 cases. Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, USAF Academy, Colorado, Seymour Johnson AFB, North Carolina, and Eglin AFB, Florida, tried 2 each. Together these five accounted for 34% of the month's cases. Larger bases try more cases of every kind.
A Year Earlier
October 2018 had 41 cases, and October 2019 had 32. Median confinement went from 4 months to 3 months. The general court-martial share went from 61% to 50%.
The largest change was in punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members, which went from 66% to 46%. Convictions with confinement went from 85% to 88%. A single month has few cases, so these changes show direction, not firm trends.
| October 2018 | October 2019 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 41 | 32 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | — |
| Convictions with confinement | 85% | 88% |
| Median confinement | 4 months | 3 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 66% | 46% |
| General courts-martial | 61% | 50% |
Rules in Transition and Missing Pieces
Trials in 2019 came during a rule change. Since 2019, a special court-martial can be tried by a military judge alone, capped at six months of confinement and no punitive discharge. Which rules applied depends on the offense date. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot show which rules applied.
They also do not include the evidence, any plea terms, or matters resolved by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Air Force courts-martial with a trial date in October 2019 (32 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)
- What the Air Force Tried in September 2019 (previous / next)
- November 2019 at Air Force Courts-Martial: 21 Cases (previous / next)
- Air Force Courts-Martial in 2019: 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.