29 Larceny Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington, 2013–2017: What the Records Show

Trends › By Installation › Bremerton, Washington › Article 121, 2013–2017

Based on 29 cases · 2013–2017 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Almost Every Case Ended in a Guilty Plea

Of the 24 records that list a plea, 23 show a guilty plea. Only 1 accused contested, with a not-guilty plea to at least one charge.

The contested share, 4%, compares with 11% in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 121 cases. Records from before December 2020 in these services often leave out the plea, so the share counts only the records that include one.

There was only 1 contested case. So the records cannot show much about how contested larceny cases ended here. They show that almost every case ended in a guilty plea, and the main question left was the sentence.

Punitive Discharges, None Dishonorable

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member. Of 27 convicted enlisted members, 16 received a punitive discharge. All 16 were bad-conduct discharges, and none was dishonorable. The punitive discharge share, 59%, was lower than the 68% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps.

A member who received no punitive discharge did not necessarily stay in the service. An administrative separation can follow a court-martial, and these records do not include administrative separations.

Confinement About the Same as in the Service

Confinement was part of 27 of the 29 convictions. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the 6-month median for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 121 cases. A quarter of the terms were 1 year or more.

Long terms were uncommon. Only 1 of 29 convictions included more than 1 year (3%), compared with 12% service-wide. None included 5 years or more. Terms under 6 months and terms from 6 months to 1 year each made up 45% of convictions, compared with 42% and 38% across the Navy and Marine Corps. These are sentences as adjudged at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in its case.

Mostly Special Courts-Martial

Bremerton tried 25 of these cases at special courts-martial and 4 at general courts-martial. The general court-martial share, 14%, was lower than the 22% in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 121 cases for 2013–2017.

The court level affects the possible sentence. A special court-martial caps confinement at 1 year and can impose a bad-conduct discharge but not a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. Only a general court-martial can impose more than 1 year of confinement.

Larceny and Other Charges

Of the 29 cases, 15 charged at least one other article. Article 107 (false official statement) was the most common other charge, in 9 cases. Article 81 (conspiracy) was charged in 5, Article 92 (orders violation) in 3, and Article 112a (drug) in 2.

The other cases charged larceny alone. When other charges were included, the sentence covers all of the charges together.

Who Was Tried

Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 56% of the accused, and NCOs (E-5 to E-9) made up 44%. There were no officers. Across the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole, 51% of Article 121 accused were junior enlisted, so the Bremerton group was slightly more junior.

Cases by Year

There were 5 cases in 2013, 7 in 2014, 11 in 2015, 4 in 2016, and 2 in 2017. The highest count was in 2015. Over these years, larceny was charged in 15% of the 193 courts-martial at Bremerton. The records give trial dates, so the year shown is when the case was tried, not when the alleged theft took place.

The Rules in Force

All of these trials took place before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. That law set fixed panel sizes, added judge-alone special courts-martial capped at 6 months with no punitive discharge, and brought in written plea agreements. Cases with offenses from before 2019 stayed under the old rules.

Limits of the Data

Trial records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence or the terms of a plea agreement. Thefts handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are not included in this count.

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

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.