When Article 128 and Article 87a Are Charged Together, How Do Cases End?

Trends › By Offense › Article 128 › With Article 87a

Based on 35 cases · 2013–2026 · Army, Navy, and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Every Case Ended in a Conviction

All 35 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. Guilty pleas were also common: most of the accused pleaded guilty to at least part of the charges. There were only 8 contested cases, which is too few for a useful comparison of verdicts.

The records show the plea for 31 of the 35 cases. There were 23 guilty pleas and 8 not-guilty or mixed pleas. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Here, 26% of cases were contested, compared with 40% across all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 128.

Confinement About the Same as for All Assault Cases

Of the 35 sentences, 33 included confinement (94%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the 6-month median for all assault cases in these services. A quarter of the terms were 1.1 years or longer.

These are adjudged sentences: the sentences announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers every charge in the case, not only the assault or the resisting charge.

Sentences by Length

The most common length was under 6 months: 16 convictions, or 46%, compared with 38% across all assault cases. Only 2 convictions (6%) included no confinement, compared with 15% in the comparison group.

Terms of more than 1 year followed 10 of 35 convictions (29%), about the same as the 27% for all Article 128 cases. Terms of 5 years or more followed 2 convictions (6%).

Sentences at Each Court Level

General courts-martial heard 20 cases and special courts-martial heard 15. The general court-martial share was 57%, compared with 62% across all assault cases in these services. Only a general court-martial can impose more than 1 year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial is capped at 1 year.

The median confinement was 1.1 years at general courts-martial and 4 months at special courts-martial. Cases at general courts-martial were contested more often: 35% compared with 9% at special courts-martial.

Other Charges in These Cases

Article 87a (resisting apprehension, numbered since 2019) was charged in all 35 cases. Article 90 (disobeying an officer) was charged in 11 of these cases. Article 115 (malingering before 2019; communicating threats since) and Article 134 (general article) were each charged in 10, and Article 92 (orders violation) in 9.

The sentence covers the whole case, so the confinement and discharge figures include these other charges. When a case charges assault and resisting apprehension along with a threat or disobedience charge, the accused is sentenced for all of them together.

Punitive Discharges

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. A punitive discharge followed 74% of enlisted convictions. These included 20 bad-conduct discharges and 5 dishonorable discharges. For all Article 128 cases in these services, the rate was 64%.

A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation later.

Rank, Timing, and Location

No officers were among the accused. Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 71% and NCOs 29%. This group is more junior than all assault cases, where 58% of the accused were junior enlisted.

The 35 cases were tried from September 2013 to July 2026. Most years had 1 or 2 cases. There were 10 cases in 2021 and 7 in 2024. The 2026 count covers only part of the year.

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had 6 of these cases and Fort Bragg had 5. Vilseck (Europe), Fort Irwin, and Kaiserslautern (Europe) had 2 each. These five installations account for 49% of the total. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

What These Records Leave Out

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. New rules on prosecution decisions and sentencing apply to some offenses after December 2023. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot separate cases under the old and new rules.

Conduct handled outside a court-martial, through nonjudicial punishment or administrative action, is not counted. The records also do not describe the evidence or the terms of any plea agreement.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 128 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. 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.