Army Communicating Threats Cases Against Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4): Outcomes and Sentences

Trends › By Offense › Article 115 › Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4)

Based on 55 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Every Case Included Another Charge

None of the 55 cases charged Article 115 alone. Assault under Article 128 appeared in 28 of them, Article 92 (orders violation) and Article 128b (domestic violence) in 18 each, Article 120 (sexual assault) in 12, and Article 90 (disobeying an officer) in 8.

A court-martial sentence covers every charge in a case. The confinement and discharge figures here describe threat cases together with these other offenses, many of them violent.

More Terms Over One Year

The 52 convictions included confinement in 49 (94%). The median term was 8 months, compared with 7 months across all Army Article 115 cases. A quarter of terms were 1.3 years or longer.

Terms longer than one year were given in 17 of 52 convictions (33%), more often than the 27% service-wide. Terms of more than 1 year but under 5 years made up 27%, compared with 23%. Terms of 5 years or more made up 6%, compared with 4%. Terms of 6 months to 1 year were less common: 21%, compared with 26%.

All of these are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Pleas and Agreements

Of the 55 accused, 38 pleaded guilty and 17 contested at least one charge, through a not-guilty or mixed plea. That 31% contested share is lower than the 45% across all Army Article 115 cases.

Among the 38 guilty pleas, 34 are recorded with a plea agreement and 4 have no entry. Army records show whether an agreement existed, though not what it said.

Verdicts in Contested Cases

All 17 contested cases reached a verdict. In 3 (18%), the accused was acquitted of all charges. That full-acquittal rate is lower than the 24% across all Army Article 115 cases.

Another 13 (76%) ended in a partial acquittal, not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are common in Army data. In this group, a partial acquittal was the most common result of a contested case.

Discharges Among the Convicted

Of 52 convicted junior enlisted soldiers, 39 received a punitive discharge: 32 bad-conduct and 7 dishonorable. Across all Army Article 115 cases, the punitive discharge share was 68%.

A soldier whose sentence included no punitive discharge can still face administrative separation. These records cover only the court-martial, so they cannot show how many of the other convicted soldiers remained in the Army.

Panels and Court Levels

A military judge alone decided 43 cases, and enlisted panels heard 11. No case went to an officer panel. Members heard 20% of cases, compared with 27% across all Army Article 115 cases. Among contested cases, members heard 11 of 16 (69%). The accused usually chooses the forum.

General courts-martial heard 39 cases (72%), about the same as the 75% service-wide. Special courts-martial heard 15, and 1 case has no level listed. At general courts-martial, 97% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 1 year. At special courts-martial, 87% did, and the median was 4 months. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is limited to one year of confinement and a bad-conduct discharge.

Cases by Year and Installation

The trials took place from January 2021 to December 2025: 16 in 2021, 15 in 2022, 7 in 2023, 13 in 2024, and 4 in 2025. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021, as the services had until December 2020 to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Fort Bragg tried 7 cases each, Fort Bliss 6, and Fort Stewart and Fort Hood 4 each. Together they tried 51% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

All 55 accused were junior enlisted, compared with 53% across all Army Article 115 cases.

Beyond These Records

Domestic violence has been a covered offense since December 28, 2023. Special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses, including Article 128b charges. That rule depends on offense dates, which the records do not give. The records also do not include the words used, the evidence, plea terms, and threats handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. They give trial dates only, so trials from 2024 on include cases under both the older rules and the new ones.

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.