How Bremerton, Washington Handled Drug Cases (Article 112a), 2019–2023
From 2019–2023, Bremerton, Washington tried 55 courts-martial charging Article 112a (drug offenses), 36% of all its courts-martial. A punitive discharge followed 43% of enlisted convictions, compared with 64% in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 112a cases.
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Short answer: From 2019–2023, Bremerton, Washington tried 55 courts-martial charging Article 112a (drug offenses), 36% of all its courts-martial. A punitive discharge followed 43% of enlisted convictions, compared with 64% in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 112a cases. The median adjudged confinement was 3 months, compared with 5 months.
Drug Cases as a Share of All Bremerton Cases
The 55 Article 112a cases made up 36% of the 153 courts-martial tried at Bremerton in 2019–2023.
Most were tried in the first 2 years. There were 24 cases in 2019 and 15 in 2020. There were 3 cases in 2021 and 3 in 2022, and 10 in 2023. The records cannot explain this pattern. They cover January 2019 to November 2023 and give trial dates, not offense dates, so a case tried in 2020 may concern earlier conduct.
Fewer Punitive Discharges
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member. The officer equivalent is a dismissal. At Bremerton, 21 of 49 convicted enlisted members received one: 19 bad-conduct discharges and 2 dishonorable discharges. In the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps, the share was 64%.
The records list 3 convicted officers or warrant officers, and none was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. These records do not include administrative separations.
Shorter Confinement, and More Sentences Without It
Of the 55 cases, 52 ended in a conviction on at least one charge. Confinement was part of 41 of those sentences (79%). The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 5 months in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 112a cases. A quarter of the sentences were 7 months or longer.
No confinement was part of 21% of convictions here, compared with 11% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Sentences of more than 1 year were less common: 3 of 52 convictions (6%), compared with 16%. Terms of more than 1 year but under 5 years made up 4% here, compared with 15%. Terms under 6 months were more common here (52% compared with 45%). Terms from 6 months to 1 year were less common (21% compared with 27%). Terms of 5 years or more made up 2% here, compared with 1%. Here, that is 1 conviction.
These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps Article 112a cases in 2019–2023 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 11 | 21% | 11% |
| Under 6 months | 27 | 52% | 45% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 11 | 21% | 27% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 2 | 4% | 15% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 2% | 1% |
Pleas and Contested Cases
The plea is listed in 53 of the 55 records. Of those, 46 were guilty pleas and 7 were not-guilty or mixed pleas. The contested share was 13%. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 112a cases in 2019–2023, the contested share was 20%.
Of the 55 cases, 52 ended in a conviction. The records show the outcome but not the reasons for it. They cannot explain why a contested case ended as it did.
A More Senior Group Than in the Service
The accused were 37 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 14 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 3 officers or warrant officers. This group is more senior than all Navy and Marine Corps Article 112a cases, where 79% of the accused were junior enlisted.
Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial
Bremerton tried 9 of these cases as general courts-martial and 46 as special courts-martial. The general court-martial share, 16%, compares with 24% in the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole.
A special court-martial caps confinement at 1 year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. Since 2019, a special court-martial can also be tried by a military judge alone, with confinement capped at 6 months and no punitive discharge. Only a general court-martial can impose more than 1 year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge.
Drug Charges Were Often the Only Charge
Only 20 of the 55 cases charged another article with Article 112a. The most common other charges were Article 81 (conspiracy), in 8 cases, and Article 86 (AWOL), in 7. Article 131b (obstruction, numbered since 2019) was charged in 4 cases, Article 80 (attempt) in 2, and Article 120b (child sexual abuse) in 1. A sentence covers every charge in a case, so the confinement and discharge figures include these other charges.
What the Trial Records Do Not Show
Trial records list the charges, pleas, findings, and sentence. They do not show the substance, the evidence, or the plea terms. They do not include drug cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often leave out the plea, so the plea counts use only the records that list one.
For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 112a on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Courts-martial tried at Bremerton, Washington in 2019–2023 that charged Article 112a (55 cases), compared with every Navy and Marine Corps case charging Article 112a in those years.
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
- Bremerton, Washington: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Article 112a (Wrongful Use, Possession of Controlled Substances): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Bremerton, Washington, 2013–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 221 Cases
- Bremerton, Washington, 2019–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 153 Cases
- Bremerton, Washington Courts-Martial, 2024–2026: What 52 Cases Show
- How Bremerton, Washington Handled Drug Cases (Article 112a), 2013–2018
- Is Navy-Marine Corps Drug Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 112a, 2017–2025
- S3 E52: What You Need to Know About Positive UAs in the Military (podcast, members)
- Article 112a explained on the law firm's website
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Article 112a Cases at Bremerton, Washington, 2019–2023
Names and links only. Each judge's record of pleas, findings, and sentences is on their Know Your Judge page, part of the Court-Martial Characters membership.
Compare: federal court. Federal Law Has No Crime of Drug Use: How Article 112a Cases Compare · Drug Distribution and Importation: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 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.