Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Norfolk, Virginia, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
From 2024–2026, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had 119 courts-martial and Norfolk, Virginia had 77.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Camp Lejeune, North Carolina › vs. Norfolk, Virginia
Short answer: From 2024–2026, Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had 119 courts-martial and Norfolk, Virginia had 77. 59% of convicted enlisted members at Camp Lejeune received a punitive discharge, compared with 44% at Norfolk, and Article 121 (larceny) was charged in 9% of Camp Lejeune cases, compared with 1% at Norfolk.
More Punitive Discharges at Camp Lejeune
Among 99 enlisted members convicted at Camp Lejeune, 58 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (59%). At Norfolk, the share was 44%. 25 of the Camp Lejeune discharges were dishonorable.
3 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the Camp Lejeune records, and 1 was dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Charges That Differed Between the Two
117 of the 119 Camp Lejeune cases have a charge list. A single case can fall under several articles.
Article 121 (larceny) was charged in 9% of Camp Lejeune cases and 1% of Norfolk cases. Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) was charged in 8% and 1%. Article 128b (domestic violence) went the other way: 4% of Camp Lejeune cases and 21% of Norfolk cases.
The most common charges at Camp Lejeune were Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) and Article 134 (the general article), each in 25% of cases. At Norfolk, the shares were 21% and 19%. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 17% of Camp Lejeune cases and 13% of Norfolk cases.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Norfolk, Virginia in the same years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 29 | 25% | 21% |
| Art. 134 General article | 29 | 25% | 19% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 20 | 17% | 13% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 12 | 10% | 9% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 11 | 9% | 1% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 9 | 8% | 1% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 8 | 7% | 4% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 8 | 7% | 5% |
Median Confinement Was the Same
Camp Lejeune had 107 convictions, and 80 included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months at both installations.
The difference was at the two ends. 25% of Camp Lejeune convictions carried no confinement, against 40% at Norfolk. Sentences of more than one year made up 24% of Camp Lejeune convictions (26 of 107), against 16% at Norfolk.
All sentences here are adjudged sentences, announced at trial and before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case. 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, Norfolk, Virginia in the same years |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 27 | 25% | 40% |
| Under 6 months | 38 | 36% | 27% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 16 | 15% | 17% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 18 | 17% | 10% |
| 5 years or more | 8 | 7% | 6% |
Results When the Accused Contested
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, through a not-guilty or mixed plea. 31 contested cases at Camp Lejeune reached a verdict. 8 ended in a full acquittal (26%), compared with 22% at Norfolk.
10 more Camp Lejeune cases split the charges. A partial acquittal like this means not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another.
Guilty Pleas by Charge
81 accused at Camp Lejeune pleaded guilty, and 31 contested at least one charge. 112 of the 119 records list the plea. The contested share was 28%, against 24% at Norfolk.
Cases charging Article 134 ended in a guilty plea 89% of the time (25 of 28), the most among the top charges. Cases charging Article 112a (drug offenses) did so 75% of the time (9 of 12). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or contested.
Conviction on Each Top Charge
Article 134 ended in a conviction on that article in all 29 cases that charged it, and the median confinement for those convictions was 1.5 years. Article 112a also ended in a conviction every time it was charged (12 of 12), with a median of 3 months.
Article 128 ended in a conviction in 19 of 20 cases (95%), and Article 92 in 26 of 29 (90%). Both had a median confinement of 3 months. One case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so these rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 29 | 26 (90%) | 3 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 29 | 29 (100%) | 1.5 years |
| Art. 128 Assault | 20 | 19 (95%) | 3 months |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 12 | 12 (100%) | 3 months |
Court Level and Rank
Camp Lejeune held 48 general courts-martial and 70 special courts-martial, with 1 case not listed. The general share was 41%, compared with 39% at Norfolk.
General courts-martial produced a median confinement of 1.7 years, and 30% were contested. Special courts-martial produced a median of 3 months, and 26% were contested.
Among the accused with rank recorded, 80 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 26 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 3 were officers or warrant officers. The sheet describes this mix as more junior than Norfolk, where 44% of the accused were junior enlisted.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Lejeune, North Carolina | 119 | 28% | 8 of 31 | 6 months | 59% |
| Norfolk, Virginia | 77 | 24% | 4 of 18 | 6 months | 44% |
Cases by Year and the 2023 Rule Changes
The records run from January 2024 to September 2026. By year: 2024: 44, 2025: 37, 2026: 38. The 2026 count is a partial year.
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records do not give offense dates, so these trials mix old-rule and new-rule cases.
What These Records Leave Out
Only cases that reached a courtroom appear here. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, and cases with no action are outside these records. The records also do not describe the evidence or the plea terms.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (119) and Norfolk, Virginia (77) with trial dates in 2024–2026. Each figure for Camp Lejeune, North Carolina is set beside the same figure for Norfolk, Virginia.
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
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Norfolk, Virginia: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
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- Comparing Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Mayport, Florida: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2013–2018
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- Comparing Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Comparing Parris Island, South Carolina and Pensacola, Florida: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, 2024–2026
- Robert Boudreau
- Gable Hackman
- Keaton Harrell
- Nicholas Henry
- Ryan Lipton
- Patrick Martin
- Benjamin Mills
- William Mossor
- Kyle Phillips
- Jesse Schweig
- Adam Workman
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.