A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2020
Bremerton, Washington tried 38 courts-martial in 2020. None of the 10 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (0 of 10). The full-acquittal rate across the Navy and Marine Corps was 34%.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Bremerton, Washington › 2020
Short answer: Bremerton, Washington tried 38 courts-martial in 2020. None of the 10 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (0 of 10). The full-acquittal rate across the Navy and Marine Corps was 34%. Article 112a (drug) was charged in 43% of Bremerton cases, compared with 30% across the service.
No Full Acquittals at Trial
In 2020, 10 accused contested at least one charge, meaning they entered a not-guilty or mixed plea. All 10 cases reached a verdict, and none ended in a full acquittal. A full acquittal means not guilty of every charge. A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another.
Across the Navy and Marine Corps, 34% of contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. In 2019, 4 of 5 contested cases at Bremerton ended in a full acquittal. Counts this small can change a lot from one year to the next. The records do not show the evidence presented at any of these trials.
More Contested Cases Than in 2019
The other 28 accused pleaded guilty, so 26% of cases were contested. That share is lower than the 30% for the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole. It was higher than the 11% at Bremerton in 2019.
At general courts-martial, 31% of cases were contested. At special courts-martial, 24% were contested.
Attempts, Solicitation, and Drug Charges
Charges are listed for 35 of the 38 cases, and each article counts once per case. Article 112a (drug) was charged in 15 cases (43%), compared with 30% across the service. Article 80, which covers attempts, appeared in 20% of cases, compared with 11%. Article 82 (soliciting) appeared in 11%, compared with 4%.
Child sexual offenses under Article 120b appeared in 14% of cases, compared with 9%. Article 120c (other sexual misconduct) appeared in 9%, compared with 4%. Assault under Article 128 was less common than in the rest of the service, at 23% compared with 36%. Article 134 (the general article) appeared in 17% of cases, compared with 13%. Conspiracy under Article 81 appeared in 9%, compared with 7%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 15 | 43% | 30% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 8 | 23% | 36% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 7 | 20% | 11% |
| Art. 134 General article | 6 | 17% | 13% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 5 | 14% | 9% |
| Art. 82 Soliciting | 4 | 11% | 4% |
| Art. 120c Other sexual misconduct | 3 | 9% | 4% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 3 | 9% | 7% |
Convictions on the Leading Charges
All 15 cases charging Article 112a ended in a conviction on that article, with a median confinement of 4 months. Article 128 ended in a conviction in 8 of 8 cases. The median confinement in those cases was 47 days.
A case can include several charges, so these rows overlap. Each median covers the entire sentence.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 15 | 15 (100%) | 4 months |
| Art. 128 Assault | 8 | 8 (8 of 8) | 47 days |
How Much Time Was Adjudged?
Confinement was part of 79% of the 38 convictions. The median confinement was 4 months, compared with 6 months across the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of the sentences were 1 year or longer. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
8 convictions (21%) had no confinement, compared with 15% across the service. Sentences under 6 months made up 47% of convictions, compared with 36%. Sentences longer than one year were 6 of 38 convictions (16%), compared with 26%. 1 sentence was 5 years or more.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Navy and Marine Corps-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 8 | 21% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 18 | 47% | 36% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 6 | 16% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 5 | 13% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 3% | 6% |
Discharges and Court Levels
Among 38 convicted enlisted members, 19 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (50%), compared with 62% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Of those, 6 were dishonorable discharges, which only a general court-martial can impose. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Bremerton held 13 general and 25 special courts-martial. The general share was 34%, compared with 41% across the service. The median confinement was 1.3 years at general courts-martial. At special courts-martial, which are capped at one year, the median was 2 months.
Rank of the Accused
The accused were 24 junior enlisted members, 14 NCOs, and 0 officers. That mix is similar to the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole.
Changes Since 2019, and Similar Installations
Bremerton tried 47 cases in 2019 and 38 in 2020. The median confinement went from 3 months to 4 months. Punitive discharges for enlisted members went from 38% to 50%. Convictions with confinement went from 77% to 79%. The general court-martial share stayed at 34%. With so few cases, these changes show direction, not precise size.
Norfolk, Virginia (29 cases) had a contested share of 31%. At Norfolk, 4 of 9 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. San Diego, California (27 cases) had a contested share of 15%, and 2 of 4 ended in a full acquittal. Their punitive discharge shares for enlisted members were 72% and 48%.
| 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 47 | 38 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 11% | 26% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 4 of 5 | 0 of 10 |
| Convictions with confinement | 77% | 79% |
| Median confinement | 3 months | 4 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 38% | 50% |
| General courts-martial | 34% | 34% |
What the Records Leave Out
The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot show whether a 2020 case was tried under the rules in place before January 1, 2019, when the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect. They also omit the evidence and plea terms. They do not include nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bremerton, Washington | 38 | 26% | 0 of 10 | 4 months | 50% |
| Norfolk, Virginia | 29 | 31% | 4 of 9 | 8 months | 72% |
| San Diego, California | 27 | 15% | 2 of 4 | 6 months | 48% |
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 2020 (38 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)
- What Bremerton, Washington Tried in 2019 (previous / next)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2021 (previous / next)
- Bremerton, Washington, 2019–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 153 Cases (the whole period)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2015
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2017
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2018
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Bremerton, Washington, 2020
Names and links only. Each judge's record of pleas, findings, and sentences is on their Know Your Judge page, part of the Court-Martial Characters membership.
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.