What Was Tried at Camp Pendleton, California, 2019–2023? 291 Courts-Martial

Trends › By Installation › Camp Pendleton, California › 2019–2023

Based on 291 cases · 2019–2023 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

No Full Acquittals

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, either as a full not-guilty plea or as a mixed plea. Camp Pendleton had 31 contested cases that reached a verdict, and 0% ended in a full acquittal. In the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps, 29% of contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal.

9 contested cases ended in a partial acquittal. In those cases, the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. The records do not show the evidence in any case, so they cannot explain the pattern.

Most Accused Pleaded Guilty

Only 149 of the 291 records list the plea, because Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit it. Of those, 118 were guilty pleas and 31 were contested. The contested share was 21%, compared with 31% in all Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years.

Guilty plea rates differed by charge. 82% of cases charging Article 112a ended in a guilty plea (31 of 38), the highest of the most common charges. 75% of cases charging Article 92 ended in a guilty plea (21 of 28). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or contested.

Which Articles Were Charged?

Charges are listed for 274 of the 291 cases, and each article is counted once per case. Article 128 (assault) was charged in 86 cases (31%), the same as the service share. Article 112a (wrongful use, possession of controlled substances) was charged in 78 (28%), compared with 25% service-wide.

Sexual assault charges were less common. Article 120 (sexual assault) was charged in 8% of cases, compared with 14% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 90 (willfully disobeying superior officer) was more common: 7% compared with 3%.

Convictions on the Most Common Charges

For 3 of the most common articles, every case charging the article ended in a conviction on it: 78 of 78 for Article 112a, 53 of 53 for Article 92, and 45 of 45 for Article 134. Assault cases ended in a conviction on that article in 82 of 86 (95%).

The median confinement for a conviction was 4 months for the drug article, 5 months for orders violations, 7 months for assault, and 1.6 years for the general article. A case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so the rows overlap.

Sentences About the Same as Service-Wide

Of 275 convictions, 243 included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the 6 months for the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of the sentences were 1.3 years or longer.

Terms longer than one year were part of 67 of 275 convictions (24%), the same as the 24% service-wide. Convictions with no confinement were less common: 12% compared with 17%. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement limit, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.

Discharges and Dismissals

Of 263 convicted enlisted members, 177 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (67%), compared with 63% across the Navy and Marine Corps. 49 of those were dishonorable discharges.

All 5 convicted officers or warrant officers were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge can still be followed by an administrative separation, which these records do not track.

Court Levels and Rank

Camp Pendleton held 110 general and 181 special courts-martial. The general court-martial share of 38% was lower than the 44% for the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole. General courts-martial had a median confinement of 1.7 years, and 26% were contested. Special courts-martial cap confinement at one year. They had a median confinement of 3 months, and 18% were contested.

The accused included 213 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 51 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 5 officers or warrant officers. This group was more junior than the service overall, where 64% were junior enlisted.

Compared With Camp Lejeune and Norfolk

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 283 cases, and Norfolk, Virginia tried 205. Camp Lejeune also had very few full acquittals, 1 of 40. Norfolk had 29 of 70. 26% of cases were contested at Camp Lejeune and 35% at Norfolk. Their punitive discharge rates were 82% and 62%.

Change Since 2017–2018, and the Limits

Camp Pendleton averaged about 74 cases a year in 2017–2018 and about 58 a year since, counting full years. It tried 74 cases in 2019, 57 in 2020, 60 in 2021, 61 in 2022, and 39 in 2023. That is 15% of the 1,991 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in those years. The median confinement went from 8 months to 6 months. Punitive discharges went from 71% to 67%. In small groups a few cases can change these figures, and the records cannot show why they changed.

The records also do not include the evidence, plea terms, offense dates, or conduct handled outside a court-martial.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: 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.