NCOs (E-5 to E-9) Charged Under Article 119b in the Army

Trends › By Offense › Article 119b › NCOs (E-5 to E-9)

Based on 20 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

More Contested Cases

NCOs contested these charges more often than the accused in all Army Article 119b cases. 12 entered a not-guilty or mixed plea and 8 pleaded guilty, a contested share of 60%. Across all Army Article 119b cases the contested share was 43%.

Members heard 10 of the 12 contested cases (83%). Across all 20 cases, 50% of those with the forum listed went to members: 9 enlisted panels and 1 officer panel. A military judge alone decided the other 10.

Verdicts After a Not-Guilty Plea

12 contested cases reached a verdict. 2 ended in a full acquittal, meaning not guilty of every charge, for a rate of 17%. In all Army Article 119b cases the full-acquittal rate was 13%.

9 contested cases 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, which makes partial acquittals common in Army records.

Shorter Confinement

18 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 16 of those sentences included confinement (89%). The median confinement was 4 months. In all Army Article 119b cases it was 10 months.

Among the sentences with confinement, a quarter were 1 year or longer. All of these figures are adjudged sentences for every charge in the case, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Punitive Discharges

9 of the 18 convicted NCOs received a punitive discharge: 7 bad-conduct discharges and 2 dishonorable discharges. That is 50%, lower than the 70% in all Army Article 119b cases. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Domestic Violence Charges in the Same Case

16 of the 20 cases charged at least one other article. Article 128b (domestic violence) was the most common, in 12 cases. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 6, Article 120 (sexual assault) in 4, Article 134 (general article) in 4, and Article 92 (orders violation) in 3.

Court Level and Rank

15 cases were general courts-martial and 5 were special courts-martial. The general share, 75%, was the same as in all Army Article 119b cases. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence; a special court-martial caps confinement at one year.

Every accused here was an NCO. Across all Army Article 119b cases, junior enlisted soldiers (E-1 to E-4) made up 49% of the accused.

Installations and Years

Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Bragg each had 3 cases. Fort Knox, Fort Sill, and Vilseck (Europe) each had 2. These five installations account for 60% of the 20 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a count alone says little about any one base.

The trials ran from March 2021 to December 2025: 1 in 2021, 3 in 2022, 6 in 2023, 5 in 2024, and 5 in 2025.

Rule Changes and Limits

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses, and 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 old-rule and new-rule cases.

The records also do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial.

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.