Army Cases Charging Both Article 120c and Article 128

Trends › By Offense › Article 120c › Army, with Article 128

Based on 16 cases · 2021–2026 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Contested Cases and Acquittals

10 accused contested at least one charge, and 6 pleaded guilty. That is 62% contested, compared with 40% in Army Article 120c cases overall. A contested case has a not-guilty or mixed plea.

10 contested cases reached a verdict. In 4 of them the accused was acquitted of all charges, a full-acquittal rate of 40%. Army Article 120c cases overall had a rate of 43%, about the same. In 5 others the result was a partial acquittal, which is a finding of not guilty on at least one charge or specification together with a guilty finding on another. Because Army results record findings for each charge separately, partial acquittals appear often in Army data.

Sentences After Conviction

12 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and all 12 sentences included confinement (100%). The median confinement was 1 year, the same as the 1 year median in Army Article 120c cases overall. A quarter of the sentences were 2.3 years or longer.

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

Sexual Assault Was Charged in 8 Cases

Article 120, sexual assault, appeared in 8 of the 16 cases. Article 92, orders violation; Article 134, the general article; and Article 80, attempt, each appeared in 3. No case charged Article 120c alone, while 19 of 70 Army Article 120c cases overall did.

Punitive Discharges

A punitive discharge followed 91% of enlisted convictions: 6 bad-conduct discharges and 4 dishonorable discharges. The rate in Army Article 120c cases overall was 88%.

1 convicted officer or warrant officer appears, and that officer was not dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Court Level and Forum

15 of the 16 cases were general courts-martial (94%), compared with 86% in Army Article 120c cases overall. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

A military judge alone decided guilt in 10 of the 15 cases with the forum listed (67%). Members heard 5: 4 enlisted panels and 1 officer panel. The accused usually chooses the forum.

Rank of the Accused

Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 62% of the accused, NCOs 31%, and officers 6%. Across Army-wide Article 120c cases, junior enlisted members were 54%, so this group was more junior.

Trial Years

The trials ran from March 2021 through April 2026: 5 in 2021, 3 in 2022, 3 in 2023, 2 in 2024, 1 in 2025, and 2 in 2026, a partial year.

What This Leaves Out

Trial records list the charges, pleas, findings, and sentence. Offense dates are missing, and that matters for the rule changes from December 2023. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel instead of commanders decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, and new sentencing parameters govern cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. For trials in 2024 and later, the records cannot say which rules applied. Evidence, plea terms, and matters handled outside a court-martial are also absent.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 120c on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Army Courts-Martial

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.