Army Cases Charging Both Article 109 and Article 128b
Between 2021 and 2026, 27 Army courts-martial charged both Article 109 (property damage) and Article 128b (domestic violence). Of 26 convictions, 23 carried confinement, with a median of 8 months, compared with 6 months for all Army Article 109 cases.
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Short answer: Between 2021 and 2026, 27 Army courts-martial charged both Article 109 (property damage) and Article 128b (domestic violence). Of 26 convictions, 23 carried confinement, with a median of 8 months, compared with 6 months for all Army Article 109 cases. A punitive discharge followed 62% of enlisted convictions, compared with 68%.
Two Court Levels, Two Very Different Medians
The 17 general courts-martial in this group had a median confinement of 1 year, and 88% of their convictions brought confinement. The 10 special courts-martial had a median of 2 months, and 90% of their convictions brought confinement.
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is capped at 1 year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. The general share here was 63%, the same as the 63% in Army-wide Article 109 cases.
Confinement Across All Convictions
Of 26 convictions, 23 carried confinement. The median confinement was 8 months, longer than the 6 months for Article 109 cases in the Army as a whole. A quarter of those sentences were 1 year or longer.
Sentences of more than 1 year were given in 7 of 26 convictions (27%). That is about the same as the 30% for all Army Article 109 cases. Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 23% of convictions here, compared with 15%. Terms under 6 months made up 38%, compared with 43%.
These figures are adjudged sentences, set at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Army Article 109 cases in 2021–2026 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 3 | 12% | 13% |
| Under 6 months | 10 | 38% | 43% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 6 | 23% | 15% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 6 | 23% | 23% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 4% | 6% |
A Higher Contested Share
Contested cases made up 33% of the cases with a plea recorded. There were 9 not-guilty or mixed pleas and 18 guilty pleas. In Army-wide Article 109 cases, the contested share was 24%.
A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Of the 18 guilty pleas, 17 are recorded with a plea agreement and 1 has no entry. Army records say whether there was an agreement, not what it said.
Panels of Members Heard 26% of Cases
Of the cases with the forum listed, 26% went to members. All 7 were enlisted panels, and there were 0 officer panels. The other 20 were decided by a military judge alone.
The accused usually chooses whether a judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the split mostly follows how many cases were contested.
Discharges for Enlisted Members
Among 26 enlisted members convicted, 16 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (62%). That is less often than in Army-wide Article 109 cases (68%). 3 of the 16 were dishonorable discharges.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which is not in these records.
Who Was Charged
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 70% of the accused, and NCOs made up 30%. No officers appear (0%). In the rest of the Army, junior enlisted members were 65% of those charged under Article 109.
No officers or warrant officers were convicted in this group, so there are no dismissals to report. Dismissal is the officer form of a punitive discharge.
Other Charges in the Same Cases
All 27 cases charged at least one article besides Article 109. Besides Article 128b, the most common were Article 92 (orders violation) in 9 cases, Article 128 (assault) in 9, Article 90 (disobeying an officer) in 7, and Article 115 (communicating threats) in 5. A sentence covers all of these charges together.
Years and Installations
The cases run from March 2021 to June 2026. There were 4 in 2021, 9 in 2022, 5 in 2023, 3 in 2024, 2 in 2025, and 4 in 2026, a partial year.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord had the most cases (6). Fort Bliss and Vilseck (Europe) had 3 each, and Fort Stewart and Fort Irwin had 2 each. These five installations account for 59% of the 27 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a count alone says little about any one base.
Rules and Record Limits
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses, and domestic violence is one of them. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so trials from 2024 on mix cases under old and new rules.
Cases resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not in these records. The records also do not describe the evidence or the plea terms.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Army courts-martial with trial dates in 2021–2026 that charged both Article 109 and Article 128b (27 cases), compared with all 49 Army Article 109 cases in those years.
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
- Article 109 (Property Other Than Military; Waste, Spoilage, Destruction): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Article 128b (Domestic Violence, Numbered Since 2019): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Army Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- Army Courts-Martial With Article 109 and Article 128, 2021–2026
- Article 109 With Article 92 in the Army: What the Records Show
- Army Cases Charging Both Article 107 and Article 120
- Army Cases Charging Both Article 107 and Article 121
- Army Cases Charging Both Article 107 and Article 131b
- Army Cases Charging Both Article 107 and Article 80
- Army Cases Charging Both Article 107 and Article 81
- 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.