15 Child Sexual Abuse Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington, 2014–2018: What the Records Show

Trends › By Installation › Bremerton, Washington › Article 120b, 2014–2018

Based on 15 cases · 2014–2018 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Confinement Was Longer Than the Service Median

Confinement was part of 93% of the 14 convictions. Half of those confinement terms were 4 years or less, so the median was 4 years. The median across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 120b cases in 2014–2018 was 3 years.

A quarter of the sentences with confinement were 21 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case.

Fewer Punitive Discharges Than Elsewhere

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member. Of 12 convicted enlisted members, 10 received one: 2 bad-conduct discharges and 8 dishonorable discharges. The share was 83%, lower than the 96% across Navy and Marine Corps Article 120b cases.

The records also list 1 convicted officer or warrant officer, who was dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Guilty Pleas Were the Usual Path

Of the 14 cases with a plea recorded, 10 were guilty pleas and 4 were contested. A contested case is one in which the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 29%, lower than the 37% across Navy and Marine Corps Article 120b cases.

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea. The plea counts here use only the records that list one.

Charges Filed With Article 120b

In 3 of the 15 cases, Article 120b was the only charge. Across the service, 27 of 151 Article 120b cases had no other charge. The other cases at Bremerton added at least one more article.

Article 120 (sexual assault) was the most common added charge, in 7 cases. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 6 and Article 80 (attempt) in 5. Article 119b (child endangerment, numbered since 2019) and Article 131b (obstruction, numbered since 2019) each appeared in 3.

Rank of the Accused

Among the accused with rank recorded, 4 were junior enlisted members, 9 were NCOs, and 1 was an officer. The sheet describes this group as more senior than the accused in Navy and Marine Corps Article 120b cases overall.

Trials by Year

The trials ran from March 2014 through December 2018. There were 5 in 2014, 4 in 2015, 1 in 2016, 3 in 2017, and 2 in 2018. Together they were 7% of the 207 courts-martial at Bremerton, Washington in 2014–2018.

All of these trials came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. That law later set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial, and brought in written plea agreements. None of those changes applied to the cases here.

Limits of These Records

The records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the plea terms, and they do not include cases handled outside a court-martial. The records here do not report how the 4 contested cases ended.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 120b on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Child Sexual Abuse and Enticement: Federal Cases vs. Article 120b Courts-Martial

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.