Article 134 Cases at Bremerton, Washington, 2019–2023: 27 Courts-Martial

Trends › By Installation › Bremerton, Washington › Article 134, 2019–2023

Based on 27 cases · 2019–2023 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Shorter Confinement Than the Service Median

Of 27 convictions, 22 included confinement. The median confinement was 1 year, compared with 1.5 years in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 134 cases for the same years. A quarter of the terms were 2 years or longer.

Sentences of more than 1 year followed 9 of 27 convictions (33%), compared with 52% service-wide. Only 1 conviction included 5 years or more (4%), compared with 10% elsewhere. No confinement was part of 5 convictions (19%), compared with 11%.

Shorter terms were more common. Terms under 6 months made up 26% of convictions here, compared with 20% service-wide. Terms from 6 months to 1 year made up 22%, compared with 17%. Some cases here also included sexual offense charges. These are adjudged sentences, as imposed at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.

Discharges at Bremerton

Of 26 convicted enlisted members, 17 received a punitive discharge: 12 bad-conduct discharges and 5 dishonorable discharges. That share, 65%, compares with 74% across the Navy and Marine Corps.

The records list 1 convicted officer or warrant officer, who was not dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. For enlisted members, a sentence with no punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation later. Administrative separations are not in the court-martial records.

Other Charges With the General Article

Article 134 covers a range of conduct not listed elsewhere in the code. At Bremerton, it was the only charge in 12 of the 27 cases.

The other cases also charged other articles. Article 80 (attempt) was charged in 7 cases and Article 82 (solicitation) in 5. Article 120b (child sexual abuse), Article 120 (sexual assault), and Article 120c (indecent recording and exposure) were charged in 3 each. Each sentence covers every charge in the case, so the confinement and discharge figures include these other offenses as well as Article 134.

Most Cases Were General Courts-Martial

General courts-martial heard 19 of the 27 cases, or 70%. That is about the same as the 72% in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 134 cases. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at 1 year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Only a general court-martial can impose more than 1 year of confinement. So the 9 longer sentences came from general courts-martial.

Pleas and Contested Cases

A contested case is one in which the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Bremerton had 7 contested cases and 20 guilty pleas. The contested share was 26%. In the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps, 30% were contested.

All 27 cases, contested or not, ended in a conviction on at least one charge. So the sentence figures above cover the whole group.

Rank of the Accused

Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 59% of the accused, NCOs (E-5 to E-9) 37%, and officers 4%. Service-wide, junior enlisted members were 61% of Article 134 accused. So the rank mix here was about the same as in the service. There was 1 officer in the group, and the enlisted discharge figures above do not include that case.

Cases by Year

These cases were tried from February 2019 through August 2023. The yearly counts were similar: 5 in 2019, 6 in 2020, 5 in 2021, 7 in 2022, and 4 in 2023. Article 134 was charged in 18% of the 153 courts-martial tried at Bremerton in these years.

The years shown are trial years. The records do not give offense dates, so some of these cases may concern conduct from well before the trial.

What the Records Do Not Show

These figures cover only cases that reached a court-martial. Cases resolved through nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. The trial records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often leave out the plea, so plea counts use only the records that include one.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 134 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.