When Article 121 and Article 128 Are Charged Together, How Do Cases End?

Trends › By Offense › Article 121 › With Article 128

Based on 44 cases · 2013–2026 · Army, Navy, and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Theft and Assault in the Same Case

Article 121 covers larceny and wrongful appropriation. Article 128 covers assault. The 44 courts-martial here charged both, with trials between February 2013 and March 2026.

The comparison group in this post is all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 121. In that group, 190 of 675 cases charged larceny by itself. Here, every case also included an assault charge.

No Full Acquittals

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Of the 10 contested cases that reached a verdict, 0 ended in a full acquittal. For all Article 121 cases, the full-acquittal rate was 10%.

All 44 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. A contested case can still end in a partial acquittal, meaning not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. A partial acquittal still leads to a sentence.

Most Cases Ended in a Guilty Plea

The plea is recorded in 40 of the 44 cases: 30 guilty pleas and 10 contested cases. The contested share was 25%, higher than the 15% for all Article 121 cases. Most of the accused still pleaded guilty.

There were only 10 contested verdicts. The absence of full acquittals is based on a small number of cases and could change with a few more.

Longer Confinement

Confinement was part of 42 of the 44 sentences (95%). The median confinement was 8 months, compared with the 5 months median for all Article 121 cases. A quarter of the sentences were 1 year or longer.

19 convictions (43%) were 6 months to 1 year, compared with 28% in the comparison group. Fewer convictions were under 6 months (32%, compared with 43%) or included no confinement (5%, compared with 17%). 5 convictions (11%) were 5 years or more, compared with 2% in the comparison group. In total, 9 of 44 convictions (20%) were longer than one year, compared with 12%.

These are adjudged sentences, imposed at trial for every charge in the case, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

More General Courts-Martial

General courts-martial heard 20 of the 44 cases (45%), compared with 31% for all Article 121 cases. The other 24 were special courts-martial. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence.

At general courts-martial, the median confinement was 1 year and the contested share was 32%. At special courts-martial, the median was 6 months and 19% of cases were contested.

Punitive Discharges

A punitive discharge was part of the sentence in 72% of enlisted convictions, compared with 64% for all Article 121 cases. There were 22 bad-conduct discharges and 9 dishonorable discharges.

A sentence without a punitive discharge can still lead to an administrative separation, which these records do not show. No officers appear in this group, so there were no dismissals, the officer form of a punitive discharge.

Who Was Charged, and With What Else

Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 63% of the accused, compared with 51% for all Article 121 cases. NCOs were the other 37%. There were no officers.

Article 107 (false official statement) and Article 80 (attempt) were each charged in 10 cases. Article 129 (burglary before 2019; burglary and unlawful entry since) and Article 134 (general article) were each charged in 9.

Years and Installations

The highest counts were 9 cases in 2021, 6 in 2022, and 7 in 2023. There were 0 cases in 2016. The 1 case in 2026 is from a partial year.

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had 6 cases. Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Fort Leonard Wood, and Jacksonville, Florida had 3 each, and Camp Pendleton, California had 2. These installations account for 39% of the 44 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so the counts do not by themselves say anything about one base.

What the Data Cannot Show

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. 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. The records also do not include the evidence, the plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, or administrative separations, and they cannot explain any result.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 121 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Theft and Fraud by Dollar Loss: Federal Sentences vs. Article 121 Courts-Martial · Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Article 128 Courts-Martial, 2016–2025

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.