What Bremerton, Washington Tried in 2023
The records hold 24 courts-martial at Bremerton, Washington in 2023. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 42% of these cases, compared with 13% of all Navy and Marine Corps cases that year. The median confinement was 31 days, compared with 6 months across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Bremerton, Washington › 2023
Short answer: The records hold 24 courts-martial at Bremerton, Washington in 2023. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 42% of these cases, compared with 13% of all Navy and Marine Corps cases that year. The median confinement was 31 days, compared with 6 months across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Drug Charges Were the Most Common
Every one of the 24 records lists its charges. Article 112a, which covers wrongful use and possession of controlled substances, was charged in 10 cases (42%). Across the Navy and Marine Corps in 2023, the share was 13%.
Article 134, the general article, was the next most common charge, in 4 cases (17%), compared with 22% service-wide. A case is counted once under each article it charges, so one case can appear under several articles.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the whole Navy and Marine Corps docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 10 | 42% | 13% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 17% | 22% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 2 | 8% | 18% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 2 | 8% | 5% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 2 | 8% | 5% |
| Art. 91 Insubordinate conduct toward NCO | 2 | 8% | 3% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 2 | 8% | 11% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 1 | 4% | 4% |
Other Charges in the 2023 Cases
Several articles appeared in 2 cases each (8%). Article 92, failure to obey an order or regulation, was charged less often than across the service, where it appeared in 18% of cases. Article 120, rape and sexual assault, also appeared less often here than service-wide (11%).
Article 120b (child sexual abuse), Article 80 (attempts), and Article 91 (insubordinate conduct toward an NCO) each appeared in 8% of cases. Each of those was more common here than in the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole, at 5%, 5%, and 3%. Conspiracy under Article 81 appeared in 1 case (4%), the same share as service-wide.
Short Confinement Terms
Of the 24 cases, 22 ended in a conviction on at least one charge. Confinement was part of 15 of those 22 sentences (68%). The median confinement was 31 days. For the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole, the median was 6 months.
These are adjudged sentences. They are the sentences announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each one covers every charge in the case.
How Long Were the Sentences?
Sentences under 6 months made up 10 of the 22 convictions (45%), compared with 33% service-wide. Another 7 convictions (32%) carried no confinement at all, compared with 21%.
Confinement longer than one year was part of 2 of the 22 convictions (9%). Across the Navy and Marine Corps, the share was 23%. Of those 2 sentences, 1 was 5 years or more. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. A special court-martial is capped at one year.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 7 | 32% | 21% |
| Under 6 months | 10 | 45% | 33% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 3 | 14% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 1 | 5% | 19% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 5% | 4% |
Punitive Discharges for Enlisted Members
Of 21 convicted enlisted members, 7 received a punitive discharge (33%). For the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole, the share was 63%. Of the 7, 2 were dishonorable discharges and the rest were bad-conduct discharges.
The records also show 1 convicted officer or warrant officer, and that person was dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence with no punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not track.
Guilty Pleas and Contested Cases
The plea is listed in 23 of the 24 records. In 15 cases the accused pleaded guilty, and 8 cases were contested. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 35%, compared with 32% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Of the 8 contested cases that reached a verdict, 1 ended in a full acquittal, meaning not guilty of every charge.
Norfolk and San Diego in the Same Year
Norfolk, Virginia (29 cases) and San Diego, California (31 cases) tried a similar number of Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2023. Both had a median confinement of 6 months, longer than the 31 days at Bremerton.
Both peers also had higher punitive discharge shares for enlisted members: 52% at Norfolk and 62% at San Diego, compared with 33% at Bremerton. Contested cases made up 48% of Norfolk's cases and 37% of San Diego's. Full acquittals came in 5 of 14 contested cases at Norfolk and 5 of 11 at San Diego.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bremerton, Washington | 24 | 35% | 1 of 8 | 31 days | 33% |
| Norfolk, Virginia | 29 | 48% | 5 of 14 | 6 months | 52% |
| San Diego, California | 31 | 37% | 5 of 11 | 6 months | 62% |
Rank and Court Level
Among the accused with rank recorded, 15 were junior enlisted members, 7 were NCOs, and 1 was an officer. That mix is similar to the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole.
General courts-martial made up 6 of the 24 cases (25%). Special courts-martial made up the rest. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge.
What the Records Leave Out
These records cover only cases that reached a courtroom. They do not include cases handled by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action. They give trial dates rather than offense dates, and they do not describe the evidence or the terms of any plea agreement.
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 2023 (24 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: 2021 (previous / next)
- Bremerton, Washington in 2024: 17 Courts-Martial, Year in Review (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
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2020
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Bremerton, Washington, 2023
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.