25 Conspiracy Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington, 2013–2018: What the Records Show

Trends › By Installation › Bremerton, Washington › Article 81, 2013–2018

Based on 25 cases · 2013–2018 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Conspiracy Was Never the Only Charge

Article 81 makes it an offense to agree with another person to commit a crime and to take a step toward it. A conspiracy charge therefore comes with the underlying offense. At Bremerton, Article 81 was the only charge in 0 of the 25 cases.

Drug charges were the most common companion. Article 112a (drug) appeared in 15 cases. Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 6. Article 107 (false official statement) and Article 121 (larceny) appeared in 5 each. Each sentence covers all the charges in a case, so these drug and property offenses are part of every figure below.

Confinement in Every Conviction

All 24 convictions included confinement (100%). Across Navy and Marine Corps Article 81 cases, 4% of convictions had no confinement. At Bremerton there were 0.

The sentences were short. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 8 months across the service. A quarter of the sentences were 9 months or longer. Sentences under 6 months were 54% of convictions, compared with 35% across the service. Only 3 of 24 convictions included more than one year of confinement (12%), compared with 29%. None reached 5 years. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Most Cases Ended in a Guilty Plea

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Of the 22 records that list a plea, 21 were guilty pleas and 1 was contested. The contested share was 5%, compared with 18% in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 81 cases for 2013–2018. Bremerton cases went to trial on the merits less often.

Navy and Marine Corps records from before December 2020 often omit the plea. The share here counts only the records that include it.

Every Punitive Discharge Was Bad-Conduct

Of 23 convicted enlisted members, 18 received a punitive discharge. All 18 were bad-conduct discharges, and none was dishonorable. Across Navy and Marine Corps Article 81 cases, the punitive-discharge share was 79%.

Either a special or a general court-martial can impose a bad-conduct discharge. Only a general court-martial can impose a dishonorable discharge. Members without a punitive discharge may still have faced an administrative separation, which these records do not capture.

Almost All Junior Enlisted

The accused were 23 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 1 NCO (E-5 to E-9), and 0 officers. That group is more junior than in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 81 cases for the same years.

Taken together, conspiracy cases at Bremerton in these years involved junior service members, usually included drug charges, and almost always ended in a guilty plea.

Court Level

General courts-martial heard 9 of the 25 cases (36%), compared with 43% across the Navy and Marine Corps. The rest were special courts-martial. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, and only that level can impose confinement of more than one year. Only 3 convictions here included more than one year, and no dishonorable discharges appear.

Most Cases Came in 2016 and 2017

The yearly counts were 1 case in 2013, 2 in 2014, 3 in 2015, 6 in 2016, 10 in 2017, and 3 in 2018. Conspiracy charges were part of 11% of the 221 courts-martial at Bremerton in 2013–2018. The records list trial dates, not the dates of the alleged conduct. The 2017 count describes when cases were tried, not when any agreement was made.

The Pre-2019 Rules

All of these cases were tried before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. That law set fixed panel sizes. It created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge. It also introduced written plea agreements. None of those changes applied to the cases here. Cases with offenses from before 2019 kept the old rules even when tried after that date.

Outside the Record

Only cases that reached a courtroom are counted. Conspiracies resolved through nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action do not appear. The trial records do not describe the evidence or any plea terms.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: 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.