How Bremerton, Washington Handled False Official Statement Cases (Article 107), 2013–2018

Trends › By Installation › Bremerton, Washington › Article 107, 2013–2018

Based on 31 cases · 2013–2018 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Most of the Accused Pleaded Guilty

Of the 31 records, 27 list a plea. Of those, 24 accused pleaded guilty and 3 contested at least one charge with a not-guilty plea. The contested share, 11%, was much lower than the 27% in other Navy and Marine Corps Article 107 cases in the same years.

Navy and Marine Corps records from before December 2020 often leave out the plea, and some Bremerton records here have none. The contested share uses only the 27 records that list a plea.

There were very few contested cases, so the records show little about how contested Article 107 cases ended at Bremerton. Most cases here ended in a guilty plea, not a verdict after a contested trial.

Confinement in Almost Every Case, but Short

Of the 30 convictions, 93% included confinement. Only 2 convictions (7%) included no confinement, compared with 17% service-wide. The terms were short. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months across the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of the terms were 10 months or more.

Terms under 6 months made up 50% of convictions here, compared with 41% service-wide. Terms from 6 months to 1 year made up 40%, compared with 26%. Only 1 conviction included more than 1 year (3%), compared with 16% elsewhere. None included 5 years or more. Each figure is an adjudged sentence covering every charge in the case, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Special Courts-Martial Heard Most Cases

Only 3 of the 31 cases (10%) went to a general court-martial, the level that can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. The rest were special courts-martial. In these years, a special court-martial could impose up to 1 year of confinement and a bad-conduct discharge, but not a dishonorable discharge.

This matches the sentence figures above. Only a general court-martial can impose more than 1 year of confinement.

Only Bad-Conduct Discharges

Of 29 enlisted members convicted, 16 received a punitive discharge (55%). That is slightly lower than the 60% in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 107 cases for 2013–2018. All 16 were bad-conduct discharges, and 0 were dishonorable discharges.

The other convicted members received no punitive discharge. That does not rule out a later administrative separation. The records do not include administrative separations.

A bad-conduct discharge is the less severe punitive discharge, and a special court-martial can impose it. A dishonorable discharge requires a general court-martial, and only 3 cases here were tried at that level.

Usually Charged With Other Offenses

A false official statement was the only charge in 4 of the 31 cases. In most cases, other offenses were also charged: Article 112a (drug) in 11 cases, Article 121 (larceny) in 9, Article 81 (conspiracy) in 5, and Article 86 (AWOL) in 4.

A court-martial sentence covers every charge. So the confinement and discharge figures include these other offenses as well as the false statement.

A Junior Group of Accused

The accused were 21 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) and 9 NCOs (E-5 to E-9). None were officers or warrant officers. This group is more junior than the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps, where 47% of Article 107 accused were junior enlisted.

Cases by Year, 2013 to 2018

The cases were tried from February 2013 through August 2018. There were 3 cases in 2013, 4 in 2014, 7 in 2015, 6 in 2016, 7 in 2017, and 4 in 2018. Together they made up 14% of the 221 courts-martial tried at Bremerton in these years. The yearly counts are small, so a difference of a few cases between years means little.

Before the 2019 Rules

Every case here was tried before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. That law set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at 6 months with no punitive discharge, and brought in written plea agreements. None of those changes applied to these cases.

What These Records Leave Out

The records list trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the terms of any plea agreement. False statements handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation did not reach a courtroom and are not counted.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 107 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: 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.