Army Cases Charging Both Article 119b and Article 128b

Trends › By Offense › Article 119b › Army, with Article 128b

Based on 34 cases · 2021–2026 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Contested Cases Made Up 50%

Contested cases made up 50% of those with a plea recorded: 17 not-guilty or mixed pleas and 17 guilty pleas. In the Army as a whole, the contested share for Article 119b cases was 44%.

Of the 17 guilty pleas, 16 are recorded with a plea agreement and 1 has no entry. Army records say whether there was an agreement, not what it said.

Full and Partial Acquittals

4 of the 17 contested cases that reached a verdict ended with a finding of not guilty on all charges. That 24% full-acquittal rate is higher than the 17% in Army-wide Article 119b cases.

13 contested cases split the charges. These are partial acquittals: 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 records.

Panels Heard Most Contested Cases

A military judge alone decided guilt in 20 of 33 cases with the forum listed (61%). Members heard 13: 10 enlisted panels and 3 officer panels. In contested cases, members heard 13 of 16 (81%).

The accused usually chooses whether a judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas.

Most Cases Came From 2023 Through 2025

The cases were tried from March 2021 through May 2026. There were 3 in 2021 and 4 in 2022. The count was 9 in 2023, 9 in 2024, and 7 in 2025. There were 2 in 2026, a partial year.

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses, and domestic violence is one of them. The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They cannot show which cases fell under the new rule or whether it had any effect on the yearly counts.

Confinement

30 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 26 of those sentences included confinement (87%). The median was 1 year, longer than the 10-month median in Army Article 119b cases overall. A quarter of the sentences were 1.8 years or longer.

Sentences of more than 1 year came in 11 of 30 convictions (37%), compared with 33%. Terms of more than 1 year but under 5 years made up 33%, compared with 29%. Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 27%, compared with 24%. Terms under 6 months made up 23%, compared with 27%. Convictions with no confinement made up 13%, compared with 16%.

These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.

Punitive Discharges

A punitive discharge followed 70% of enlisted convictions: 15 bad-conduct discharges and 4 dishonorable discharges. In all Army Article 119b cases in 2021–2026, the rate was 71%, about the same.

3 convicted officers or warrant officers appear here, and 1 was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Rank and Court Level

By rank, 17 of the accused were junior enlisted members, 13 were NCOs, and 4 were officers. The group is similar to Army-wide Article 119b cases.

General courts-martial made up 85% of these cases (29 of 34). A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. Special courts-martial made up the rest. They cap confinement at 1 year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Other Charges and Installations

Besides Article 128b, the most common charges were Article 128 (assault) in 11 cases, Article 134 (general article) in 8, Article 92 (orders violation) in 7, and Article 115 (communicating threats) in 6.

Fort Bragg had the most cases (5). Fort Sill, Fort Riley, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, and Fort Bliss had 3 each. These five installations account for 50% of the 34 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

What the Records Leave Out

New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, and the records cannot show which cases that covered. The records do not describe the evidence or plea terms. Nonjudicial punishment and administrative separations are not included.

Army records in this data are sparse before 2021, after the services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: 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.