What Camp Pendleton, California Tried in 2017
Camp Pendleton, California tried 71 courts-martial in 2017, and Article 86 (AWOL) was charged in 27% of them, compared with 8% across the Navy and Marine Corps. The median confinement was 6 months, shorter than the 8 months service-wide.
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Trends › By Installation › Camp Pendleton, California › 2017
Short answer: Camp Pendleton, California tried 71 courts-martial in 2017, and Article 86 (AWOL) was charged in 27% of them, compared with 8% across the Navy and Marine Corps. The median confinement was 6 months, shorter than the 8 months service-wide. 71% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge.
Absence and Orders Cases
Charges appear in 70 of the 71 records, and a case is counted under each article it charged. Unauthorized absence under Article 86 was charged in 19 cases (27%), compared with 8% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 92, failure to obey an order or regulation, was also charged in 27% of cases, compared with 16%.
Drug charges under Article 112a were the most common charge, in 33% of cases, about the same as the 31% service-wide. Several serious charges were less common here than elsewhere. Article 128 (assault) was charged in 26% of cases, compared with 37%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 7%, compared with 19%. Article 134, the general article, was charged in 7%, compared with 13%. False official statements under Article 107 (10%, compared with 11%) and larceny under Article 121 (7%, compared with 9%) were about the same as the service rates.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 23 | 33% | 31% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 19 | 27% | 8% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 19 | 27% | 16% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 18 | 26% | 37% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 7 | 10% | 11% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 5 | 7% | 9% |
| Art. 134 General article | 5 | 7% | 13% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 5 | 7% | 19% |
Conviction Rates for the Most Common Charges
All 19 cases charging Article 86 ended in a conviction on that article, with a median confinement of 4 months. Article 92 cases ended in a conviction in 17 of 19 cases (89%), and Article 128 cases in 16 of 18 (89%). Article 112a had the lowest rate of the group, 20 of 23 (87%).
The median confinement was 5 months in drug cases, 8 months in assault cases, and 9 months in orders cases. 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. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 23 | 20 (87%) | 5 months |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 19 | 19 (100%) | 4 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 19 | 17 (89%) | 9 months |
| Art. 128 Assault | 18 | 16 (89%) | 8 months |
Mostly Special Courts-Martial
Of the 71 cases, 55 were special courts-martial and 16 were general courts-martial. The general court-martial share of 23% was lower than the 44% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Court level affects the possible sentence. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. At Camp Pendleton, the median confinement was 3 months in special courts-martial and 3.5 years in general courts-martial.
Sentence Lengths in 2017
Of 64 convictions, 57 included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, and a quarter of terms were 1.2 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement limit, clemency, or appeal, and each covers all the charges in a case.
Terms under 6 months made up 44% of convictions, compared with 37% service-wide. Sentences longer than one year were part of 15 of 64 convictions (23%), compared with 31%. 6 convictions included 5 years or more. Only 7 convictions (11%) included no confinement, about the same as the 10% across the service. Terms from 6 months to 1 year made up 22%, compared with 23%. Terms between 1 and 5 years made up 14%, compared with 20%.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 7 | 11% | 10% |
| Under 6 months | 28 | 44% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 14 | 22% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 9 | 14% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 6 | 9% | 10% |
Punitive Discharges
71% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge: 36 bad-conduct discharges and 9 dishonorable discharges. That rate was slightly higher than the 68% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases.
No officers appear among those tried. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which is not in these records.
Most of the Accused Were Junior Enlisted
The accused were 54 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 9 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 0 officers or warrant officers. That group was more junior than all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2017, where 66% of the accused were junior enlisted.
Plea Data Is Almost Absent
Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often leave out the plea. At Camp Pendleton in 2017, the plea appears in only 1 record, a special court-martial that was not contested.
As a result, the records cannot show how often cases here were contested or how those trials ended. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge.
Compared With Camp Lejeune and Bremerton
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (67 cases) and Bremerton, Washington (50 cases) tried a similar number of cases. Camp Lejeune had a longer median confinement, 9 months, and a higher punitive discharge rate, 77%. Bremerton had a shorter median confinement, 5 months. Bremerton gave a punitive discharge to 46% of convicted enlisted members, and 11% of its cases were contested.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Pendleton, California | 71 | 0 of 1 | — | 6 months | 71% |
| Camp Lejeune, North Carolina | 67 | 0 of 3 | — | 9 months | 77% |
| Bremerton, Washington | 50 | 11% | 3 of 5 | 5 months | 46% |
Rules of the Period and What the Records Leave Out
These cases were tried before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not include the evidence, plea terms, or anything resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Camp Pendleton, California with a trial date in 2017 (71 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
- Camp Pendleton, California: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- Camp Pendleton, California in 2018: 78 Courts-Martial, Year in Review (previous / next)
- Camp Pendleton, California, 2017–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 149 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
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2021
- S1 E33: Dismissing the Camp Pendleton Case (podcast, members)
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Camp Pendleton, California, 2017
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.