Orders Violation Charges at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, 2019–2023: Pleas, Verdicts, and Sentences

Trends › By Installation › Camp Lejeune, North Carolina › Article 92, 2019–2023

Based on 79 cases · 2019–2023 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

No Full Acquittals in Contested Cases

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. At Camp Lejeune, 21 contested orders-violation cases reached a verdict, and 0 ended in a full acquittal. In all Navy and Marine Corps Article 92 cases in 2019–2023, the full-acquittal rate was 11%.

A contested case did not always end in conviction on every charge. 6 of those 21 cases ended in a partial acquittal. A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another.

The group is small. With 21 contested cases, a single full acquittal would have changed the rate. The 0% figure describes this period at this installation, not a fixed pattern.

Contested Cases Were More Common

Only 51 of the 79 records list a plea. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit it. Of those 51, 30 accused pleaded guilty and 21 contested at least one charge. The contested share was 41%, compared with 35% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps.

The contested share also differed by court level. It was 47% at general courts-martial and 38% at special courts-martial.

Punitive Discharges Were More Common

Of 72 convicted enlisted members, 52 received a punitive discharge (72%): 47 bad-conduct and 5 dishonorable. In all Navy and Marine Corps Article 92 cases, the share was 58%. A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member. The officer equivalent is a dismissal.

The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was not dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, and these records do not cover those separations.

More Terms of 6 Months to 1 Year

Confinement was part of 79% of the 77 convictions. The median confinement was 7 months, compared with 6 months in Navy and Marine Corps-wide Article 92 cases. A quarter of the terms were 1 year or longer.

Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 31% of convictions here, compared with 22% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. Terms under 6 months made up 32%, compared with 38%. Sentences over one year came about as often as elsewhere: 12 of 77 convictions (16%), compared with 16%. No conviction carried 5 years or more.

These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.

Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial

Special courts-martial tried 55 of the 79 cases, and general courts-martial tried 24. The general court-martial share was 30%, compared with 33% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps.

A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. The median confinement was 4 months at special courts-martial and 1.1 years at general courts-martial.

Since 2019, a special court-martial can also be tried by a military judge alone, with confinement capped at six months and no punitive discharge. The figures here do not separate that form from other special courts-martial. The 4 months median covers both.

Drug and Assault Charges in the Same Cases

70 of the 79 cases charged at least one other article along with Article 92. The most common were Article 112a (drug) in 28 cases, Article 128 (assault) in 24, Article 121 (larceny) in 14, Article 107 (false official statement) in 13, and Article 131b (obstruction) in 12.

A sentence covers every charge in the case. The confinement and discharge figures therefore include punishment for those other charges as well as the Article 92 charge.

Rank of the Accused and Cases by Year

The accused were 55 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 17 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 officer or warrant officer. That group is more junior than in Navy and Marine Corps-wide Article 92 cases, where 59% were junior enlisted.

The 79 cases were tried from February 2019 to November 2023: 17 in 2019, 12 in 2020, 34 in 2021, 10 in 2022, and 6 in 2023. They were 28% of the 283 courts-martial at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina in those years.

What the Records Do Not Show

Orders violations handled without a court-martial, through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation, are not in these records. The records also do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or when the conduct took place.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 92 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.