Bremerton, Washington in 2016: 37 Courts-Martial, Year in Review
Bremerton, Washington tried 37 courts-martial in 2016. Article 112a (drug) was charged in 53% of cases, compared with 26% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Almost every accused pleaded guilty. The contested share was 3%, compared with 27% across the service.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Bremerton, Washington › 2016
Short answer: Bremerton, Washington tried 37 courts-martial in 2016. Article 112a (drug) was charged in 53% of cases, compared with 26% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Almost every accused pleaded guilty. The contested share was 3%, compared with 27% across the service.
Drug Charges in 53% of Cases
Article 112a covers wrongful use and possession of controlled substances, and it appeared in 19 of the 36 records that list charges. That 53% share is much higher than the 26% in all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2016. A single case can carry several articles, so the shares in the table do not add up to 100%.
Article 86 (AWOL) was also more common here, at 19% compared with 6%. Article 81 (conspiracy) appeared in 17%, compared with 9%. Article 131b (obstruction, numbered since 2019) appeared in 11%, compared with 5%. Assault under Article 128 was less common: 25% of cases here, compared with 38% across the service.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 19 | 53% | 26% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 25% | 38% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 7 | 19% | 6% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 6 | 17% | 13% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 6 | 17% | 9% |
| Art. 134 General article | 5 | 14% | 12% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 4 | 11% | 11% |
| Art. 131b Obstruction, numbered since 2019 | 4 | 11% | 5% |
Almost No Contested Cases
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, either in a not-guilty plea or a mixed plea. Of the 35 records that list a plea, 34 show a guilty plea and 1 shows a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 3%, much lower than the 27% for the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole.
The 1 contested case was tried at a general court-martial, and it ended in a full acquittal (1 of 1). Navy and Marine Corps records from before December 2020 often omit the plea. These counts use only the records that include it.
Conviction Rates by Charge
All 19 cases charging Article 112a ended in a conviction on that article. The median confinement in those cases was 5 months. Article 128 ended in a conviction on that article in 8 of 9 cases, with a median confinement of 4 months.
These rows can overlap. An accused may be convicted under one article and acquitted under another in the same case, and each median covers the whole sentence, not only the time tied to one charge.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 19 | 19 (100%) | 5 months |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 8 (8 of 9) | 4 months |
Most Sentences Were Short
Of 36 convictions, 33 included confinement. The median confinement was 5 months, about the same as the 6 months across the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of the sentences were 8 months or longer. All figures are adjudged sentences, meaning what was announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
Sentences under 6 months made up 56% of convictions, compared with 35% across the service. Sentences longer than one year were 8 of 36 convictions (22%), compared with 27% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases. None reached 5 years, compared with 7% across the service. Only 3 convictions (8%) had no confinement.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 3 | 8% | 10% |
| Under 6 months | 20 | 56% | 35% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 5 | 14% | 27% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 8 | 22% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 7% |
Special Courts-Martial Handled Most Cases
Bremerton held 10 general and 27 special courts-martial in 2016. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
General courts-martial were 27% of cases here, compared with 49% across the Navy and Marine Corps. The median confinement at general courts-martial was 1.4 years, and 1 of 9 with a recorded plea was contested. The median at special courts-martial was 4 months, and none was contested.
Discharges After Conviction
A punitive discharge means a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for enlisted members. Among 36 enlisted members convicted, 20 received one (56%). That is less often than the 62% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases that year. None of those 20 was dishonorable.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. The records do not track those separations.
Who Faced Trial
Junior enlisted members in grades E-1 to E-4 made up 76% of the accused, compared with 51% across the Navy and Marine Corps. NCOs made up the other 24%. No officers appear in the 2016 records.
Compared With 2015 and With Other Installations
Bremerton tried 45 cases in 2015 and 37 in 2016. The contested share went from 12% to 3%. The median confinement went from 4 months to 5 months. Punitive discharges for enlisted members went from 54% to 56%. General courts-martial went from 36% to 27% of cases. In groups this small, a few cases can move each figure, so these changes show direction, not precise size.
San Diego, California (45 cases) and Mayport, Florida (27 cases) tried a similar number of cases that year. Both had higher contested shares, at 22% and 23%. Mayport had the longest median confinement of the 3 installations, at 8 months. Mayport also had a 68% punitive discharge share.
| 2015 | 2016 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 45 | 37 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 12% | 3% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 2 of 5 | 1 of 1 |
| Convictions with confinement | 91% | 92% |
| Median confinement | 4 months | 5 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 54% | 56% |
| General courts-martial | 36% | 27% |
Rules and Record Limits
All of these cases came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. The older rules on panels, pleas, and special courts-martial applied to every case.
The records list trial dates, not offense dates. They do not show the evidence or the terms of any plea agreement. They also do not show misconduct handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation instead of a court-martial.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bremerton, Washington | 37 | 3% | 1 of 1 | 5 months | 56% |
| San Diego, California | 45 | 22% | 7 of 10 | 6 months | 56% |
| Mayport, Florida | 27 | 23% | 2 of 6 | 8 months | 68% |
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Bremerton, Washington with a trial date in 2016 (37 cases).
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)
- By Year (hub)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2015 (previous / next)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2017 (previous / next)
- Bremerton, Washington, 2013–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 221 Cases (the whole period)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2018
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2020
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.