What the Army Tried in February 2021
In the Army's 36 courts-martial of February 2021, 5 of 10 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (50%), compared with 35% for the Army across 2021. Sexual assault charges were also more common than for the year.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › February 2021
Short answer: In the Army's 36 courts-martial of February 2021, 5 of 10 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (50%), compared with 35% for the Army across 2021. Sexual assault charges were also more common than for the year. Article 120 appeared in 40% of cases, compared with 29%. Article 80 (attempts) appeared in 20%, compared with 9%.
Full Acquittals in 5 of 10 Contested Cases
A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, either across the board or through a mixed plea. February 2021 had 10 contested cases that reached a verdict, and 5 ended in a full acquittal (50%). For the Army over all of 2021, the full acquittal rate was 35%.
One more contested case ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are visible in the data.
Sexual Assault and Attempt Charges
Of the 36 records, 35 list the charges, and an article counts once in each case charging it. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 14 cases, or 40%, compared with 29% for the year. Article 80 (attempts) appeared in 7, or 20%, compared with 9% for the year.
Article 128 (assault) was charged less often: 29% compared with 38%. Article 134 (general article) appeared in 11%, compared with 21% for 2021. Article 86 (AWOL) appeared in 11%, compared with 5%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Army for all of 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 14 | 40% | 29% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 10 | 29% | 38% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 7 | 20% | 9% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 4 | 11% | 5% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 11% | 21% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 4 | 11% | 12% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 4 | 11% | 8% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 3 | 9% | 8% |
Convictions on the Top Charges
Of the 14 cases charging Article 120, 6 ended in a conviction on that article (43%), with a median confinement of 1.8 years among those convictions. Article 128 cases more often ended in a conviction on that article: 7 of 10 cases, with a median of 8 months.
Guilty plea rates were about the same for Article 128 and Article 120. Cases charging Article 128 ended in a guilty plea 60% of the time (6 of 10). Cases charging Article 120 did so 57% of the time (8 of 14). The records do not explain why any accused pleaded guilty or contested the charges. A case with both charges appears in both rows.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 14 | 6 (43%) | 1.8 years |
| Art. 128 Assault | 10 | 7 (70%) | 8 months |
Pleas and Plea Agreements
There were 25 guilty pleas and 11 contested cases. The contested share was 31%, compared with 36% for the Army in 2021. Of the 25 guilty pleas, 24 are recorded with a plea agreement and 1 has no entry. The records note whether an agreement existed, not its contents.
Confinement After Conviction
In all, 30 cases ended in a conviction, and 22 of those sentences included confinement. The median confinement was 7 months, about the same as the 6-month median for the year. A quarter of sentences were 1.5 years or longer. No sentence was 5 years or more.
7 of 30 convictions (23%) included more than one year of confinement, about the same as the 26% for 2021. 8 convictions (27%) included no confinement, compared with 19%. Sentences differed by court level. The median confinement was 9 months at general courts-martial and 37 days at special courts-martial, which are capped at one year. All of these are adjudged sentences for every charge in a case, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Army for all of 2021 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 8 | 27% | 19% |
| Under 6 months | 10 | 33% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 5 | 17% | 17% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 7 | 23% | 18% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 8% |
Discharges for Enlisted Members and Officers
A punitive discharge, meaning a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge, went to 22 of 26 convicted enlisted members: 15 bad-conduct and 7 dishonorable. The Army share across 2021 was 70%.
The month also had 4 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 1 of them was dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, and these records do not track it.
Who Decided Guilt, Rank, and Court Level
A military judge alone decided 30 cases, and enlisted panels decided 6. Members heard 17% of cases, compared with 22% for 2021. They heard 5 of the 11 contested cases (45%). The accused usually chooses the forum, and most guilty pleas go to a military judge alone.
The accused included 21 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 11 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 4 officers or warrant officers. This was similar to the year, when 58% were junior enlisted. The month had 26 general and 10 special courts-martial. General courts-martial made up 72% of cases, about the same as 73% for the year. The contested share was 31% at general courts-martial and 30% at special courts-martial.
Installations and What the Records Do Not Show
Fort Drum tried 5 cases, Wheeler Army Airfield 4, and Fort Carson, Kaiserslautern (Europe), and Fort Bragg 3 each. Together they had 50% of the month's cases. Larger installations try more cases of all kinds.
The services had to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021, so no earlier February is available for comparison. The records cover only cases that reached a courtroom. They do not include nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations, and they do not give offense dates, evidence, or plea terms.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Army courts-martial with a trial date in February 2021 (36 cases), compared with the whole year.
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Army Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- What the Army Tried in January 2021 (previous / next)
- What the Army Tried in March 2021 (previous / next)
- How 2021 Went at Army Courts-Martial (the whole year)
- April 2023 at Army Courts-Martial: 49 Cases
- April 2024 at Army Courts-Martial: 46 Cases
- Army Courts-Martial, August 2025: The Month in Review
- Army Courts-Martial, December 2024: The Month in Review
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.