Not Guilty Pleas in Army Article 93 Cases: What Happened at Trial

Trends › By Offense › Article 93 › Not Guilty Pleas in Army Article 93 Case

Based on 36 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Only Contested Cases, and Many Full Acquittals

Every case in this post is one where the accused pleaded not guilty, in full or in part, to a charge that included Article 93, the article covering cruelty toward and maltreatment of a person subject to the accused's orders. Guilty pleas are not included, so the comparison group is all contested Army cases from the same years.

Of the 36 cases, 17 ended in a full acquittal (47%). That rate is higher than the 38% for contested Army cases overall. Another 17 cases ended in a partial acquittal: the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are common in Army records.

An Offense Charged Against Supervisors

Maltreatment requires a person under the accused's orders. NCOs made up 81% of the accused and officers 14%. Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 6%, compared with 44% in contested Army cases as a whole.

4 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the records, and 2 were dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge.

Maltreatment Was Never the Only Charge

All 36 cases charged at least one other article. Article 92 (orders violation) and Article 120 (sexual assault) each appeared in 20 cases. Article 128 (assault) and Article 134 (general article) each appeared in 15, and Article 107 (false official statement) in 7.

Sentences cover every charge in a case. The confinement and discharge figures below therefore describe whole cases, and many included a sexual assault charge. They do not describe the maltreatment charge by itself.

Sentences After a Conviction

19 cases ended with a conviction on at least one charge, and 11 of those sentences included confinement (58%). The median confinement was 1.1 years, compared with 1.5 years in contested Army cases overall. A quarter of those sentences were 5.1 years or longer.

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

Fewer Punitive Discharges Than Contested Cases Overall

Among 15 convicted enlisted members, 5 received a punitive discharge (33%), compared with 64% in all contested Army cases. All 5 were dishonorable discharges, the most severe type.

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for enlisted members. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not capture.

Results by Court Level

General courts-martial heard 26 of the 36 cases (72%), compared with 85% in contested Army cases overall. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, while a special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Sentences differed by court level. At general courts-martial, 57% of convictions included confinement, and the median confinement was 1.9 years. At the 10 special courts-martial, 3 of 5 convictions included confinement, and the median was 2 months.

Members Acquitted More Often

Among cases with the forum listed, 57% went to members: 16 enlisted panels and 4 officer panels. A military judge alone heard the other 15. In contested cases, members heard 20 of 35.

Members acquitted the accused of all charges in 11 of 20 contested cases (55%). Military judges did so in 5 of 15 (33%). The accused usually chooses whether a judge or a panel decides guilt, so these groups of cases differ in ways the records do not show.

Cases by Installation and Year

The records hold these cases from March 2021 to October 2025. The number of cases by year was 12 in 2021, 11 in 2022, 5 in 2023, 5 in 2024, and 3 in 2025.

No installation had more than 4 cases. Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Fort Campbell, and Fort Knox had 4 cases each. Vilseck (Europe) and Camp Humphreys had 3 each. Together these five locations account for 50% of the total. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a count alone says little about any base.

Law Changes and What the Records Do Not Show

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault and domestic violence. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. Both depend on offense dates, which the records do not give, so trials from 2024 on mix old-rule and new-rule cases.

The records also do not describe the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

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.