Contested Army Article 115 Cases Decided by Members (A Panel)

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Based on 27 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Every Case Carried Another Charge

None of these 27 cases charged Article 115 alone. All 27 charged at least one other article. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 18 cases, Article 128b (domestic violence) in 14, Article 120 (sexual assault) in 10, Article 134 (the general article) in 6, and Article 114 (endangerment) in 4.

This matters for reading every other number on this page. A court-martial sentence covers all the charges in the case together. A threat charged with a sexual assault receives one sentence for both, so the sentences below cannot be read as the punishment for a threat alone.

Full and Partial Acquittals

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. All 27 cases here were contested, and none involved a guilty plea. Of the 27 contested cases that reached a verdict, 7 ended in a full acquittal (26%). That is about the same as the 24% rate in all contested Army Article 115 cases.

Another 19 cases ended in a partial acquittal. A partial acquittal means the panel found the accused not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, and with several charges in every case here, partial acquittals were common.

A Panel Decided Every Case

Members heard 100% of these cases: 26 by an enlisted panel and 1 by an officer panel. Across all contested Army Article 115 cases, members heard 61%. The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt.

Because that choice belongs to the accused, the cases tried before members are not a random sample. These figures describe what happened in panel cases. They do not show what a panel causes, and a comparison with judge-alone cases would mix the effect of the forum with the reasons for choosing it.

Confinement After a Conviction

20 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 19 of those sentences included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the 6-month median in all contested Army Article 115 cases. A quarter of those sentences were 4 years or longer.

These are adjudged sentences. They are the sentences announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Long Sentences by Band

Sentences longer than one year came about as often here as in all contested Army Article 115 cases: 6 of 20 convictions (30%), compared with 29%. The split within that group was different. Sentences of 5 years or more made up 20% of convictions here, compared with 11%. Sentences of more than 1 year and under 5 years made up 10%, compared with 17%.

At the short end, sentences under 6 months made up 40% of convictions in both groups. Only 1 conviction carried no confinement. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement, and a special court-martial is capped at one year.

Discharges for Enlisted Members and Officers

Among 19 enlisted members convicted, 10 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (53%), about as often as in all contested Army Article 115 cases (53%). 4 of those 10 were dishonorable discharges.

1 convicted officer or warrant officer appears in these cases, and that officer was dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Rank and Court Level

NCOs made up 56% of the accused, junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) 41%, and officers 4%. Across all contested Army Article 115 cases, junior enlisted members were 37% of the accused.

21 of the 27 cases were tried at a general court-martial (78%), compared with 83% in all contested Army Article 115 cases. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Years and Installations

The cases were tried from May 2021 through October 2025. The yearly counts were 6 in 2021, 10 in 2022, 3 in 2023, 5 in 2024, and 3 in 2025. Fort Bragg and Joint Base Lewis-McChord had 6 cases each, Wheeler Army Airfield had 3, and Fort Hood and Fort Benning had 2 each. Those five installations account for 70% of the 27 cases.

Larger installations try more cases of every kind. A high count at one base is not a measure of how often threats occur there.

Rule Changes and Gaps in the Records

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Both rules depend on the offense date, and the records list only trial dates, so trials from 2024 on include cases under both sets of rules.

The records cover courts-martial only. Threats handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation do not appear. The records also do not describe the evidence or the plea terms.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 115 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

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.