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# Property Damage Plus Assault: Courts-Martial Charging Articles 109 and 128
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-109-and-article-128-charged-together/
- Published: 2026-10-28T06:55:35.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T01:47:14.000Z
- Description: From 2013 to 2026, 49 Army, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial charged both Article 109 (property damage) and Article 128 (assault). The median confinement was 11 months, compared with 6 months for all Article 109 cases in those services.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 109, Article 128

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 109](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-109-courts-martial/) › With Article 128

**Short answer:** From 2013 to 2026, 49 Army, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial charged both Article 109 (property damage) and Article 128 (assault). The median confinement was 11 months, compared with 6 months for all Article 109 cases in those services. Of 16 contested cases that reached a verdict, 5 ended in a full acquittal (31%), compared with 21%.

Based on 49 cases · 2013–2026 · Army, Navy, and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

## Longer Sentences Than Other Article 109 Cases

Of 44 convictions, 39 included confinement. The median confinement was 11 months. Across all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 109, the median was 6 months.

A quarter of the confinement terms here were 2 years or longer. All of these are adjudged sentences: the punishment announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.

## Confinement by Length

Terms longer than one year were given in 16 of 44 convictions (36%), compared with 25% in the comparison group. The table below shows the other convictions by length, from no confinement to 5 years or more.

Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. A special court-martial is limited to one year.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 109 |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------ |
| No confinement                  | 5           | 11%        | 13%                                                                |
| Under 6 months                  | 11          | 25%        | 40%                                                                |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 12          | 27%        | 22%                                                                |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 12          | 27%        | 18%                                                                |
| 5 years or more                 | 4           | 9%         | 7%                                                                 |

## Most Cases Were General Courts-Martial

Of the cases with a court level listed, 31 were general courts-martial and 17 were special courts-martial. The level is not recorded for 1 case. The general share was 65%, compared with 47% across all Article 109 cases in those services. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including a dishonorable discharge.

Results differed by level. General courts-martial had a median confinement of 1.2 years, and 40% were contested. Special courts-martial had a median of 5 months, and 31% were contested.

## Contested Cases and Acquittals

A plea appears in 44 of the 49 records. Of those, 16 accused entered a not-guilty or mixed plea, and 28 pleaded guilty. A not-guilty or mixed plea makes a case contested. The contested share was 36%, higher than the 31% in all Article 109 cases.

Of 16 contested cases that reached a verdict, 5 ended in a full acquittal: not guilty of every charge. The full-acquittal rate was 31%, higher than the 21% in the comparison group. Another 7 ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.

## Punitive Discharges for Enlisted Members

There were 44 convicted enlisted members, and 28 of them received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (64%). That rate was higher than the 57% across all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 109\. Of the 28, 8 were dishonorable discharges.

A sentence without a punitive discharge can still be followed by an administrative separation. Administrative separations are not in these court records.

## Rank of the Accused

Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 67% of the accused, and NCOs made up 33%. No officers were among the accused. In the broader Article 109 group, junior enlisted members were 73%, so this pairing had a slightly larger share of NCOs.

For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. Only a general court-martial can impose a dishonorable discharge.

## Other Charges in These Cases

Several other articles were charged often. Article 128b (domestic violence, numbered since 2019) was charged in 13 cases, Article 92 (orders violation) in 12, Article 134 (general article) in 10, and Article 115 (malingering before 2019; communicating threats since) in 8\. A sentence covers the whole case, so these other charges are part of the sentence figures above.

## Years and Installations

Trials run from July 2013 to March 2026\. Most years had 1 to 3 cases. There were 15 cases in 2021 and 9 in 2022\. The 2026 count covers only part of the year.

Fort Bragg had 4 cases. Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Vilseck (Europe), and Camp Pendleton, California had 3 each, and MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina had 2\. Together these installations account for 31% of the 49 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

## Rule Changes and Limits of the Records

This period includes 2 sets of rule changes. The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019\. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel make the prosecution decision for covered offenses such as domestic violence. Both depend on when the offense happened, and the records list only trial dates. The records cannot show whether either change affected any number here.

The records cover only cases that reached a courtroom. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, and cases closed without trial are not included. The records do not describe the evidence or any plea terms.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/).

### How We Counted

Army, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial that charged both Article 109 and Article 128 (49 cases). Air Force cases are left out because Air Force records rarely list the charges in acquittals.

Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.

## Related Analysis

- [Article 109 (Property Other Than Military; Waste, Spoilage, Destruction): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-109-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [Article 128 (Assault): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-128-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [Articles 109 and 128b in the Same Case: What the Records Show](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-109-and-article-128b-charged-together/)
- [Property Damage Plus Orders Violation: Courts-Martial Charging Articles 109 and 92](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-109-and-article-92-charged-together/)
- [Property Damage Plus Larceny: Courts-Martial Charging Articles 109 and 121](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-109-and-article-121-charged-together/)
- [How Has Article 109 Changed in Army Courts-Martial Since 2021?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-109-trend-2021-2025/)
- [Air Force Article 109 Cases by the Numbers, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-109-trend-2016-2025/)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members)

**Compare: federal court.** [Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Article 128 Courts-Martial, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-aggravated-assault-vs-article-128/)

**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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.