What Camp Pendleton, California Tried in 2020
Of 53 convicted enlisted members at Camp Pendleton, California in 2020, 39 received a punitive discharge (74%), compared with 62% across the Navy and Marine Corps. The base tried 57 cases. Article 90 (disobeying an officer) was charged in 11% of them, compared with 3% service-wide.
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Trends › By Installation › Camp Pendleton, California › 2020
Short answer: Of 53 convicted enlisted members at Camp Pendleton, California in 2020, 39 received a punitive discharge (74%), compared with 62% across the Navy and Marine Corps. The base tried 57 cases. Article 90 (disobeying an officer) was charged in 11% of them, compared with 3% service-wide.
Punitive Discharges Were More Common
For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. 39 of 53 convicted enlisted members received one in 2020: 28 bad-conduct discharges and 11 dishonorable discharges. The 74% rate was higher than the 57% at Camp Pendleton in 2019. It was also higher than the 62% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases.
No officers or warrant officers were tried. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which is not in these records.
Almost Every Conviction Included Confinement
Of 54 cases with a conviction on at least one charge, 53 included confinement (98%). Only 1 conviction (2%) included no confinement, compared with 15% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
The median confinement was 7 months, compared with 6 months service-wide, and a quarter of terms were 1.5 years or longer. Terms longer than one year were part of 18 of 54 convictions (33%), compared with 26%. 5 terms were 5 years or more. Terms from 6 months to 1 year made up 35% of convictions, compared with 23%. Terms under 6 months made up 30%, compared with 36%. Terms between 1 and 5 years made up 24%, compared with 20%. Terms of 5 years or more made up 9%, compared with 6%. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement limit, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the whole Navy and Marine Corps docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 1 | 2% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 16 | 30% | 36% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 19 | 35% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 13 | 24% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 5 | 9% | 6% |
Disobedience and Assault Charges
Charges are listed in 54 of the 57 records, and each article is counted once per case. Article 90, willfully disobeying a superior officer, was charged in 6 cases (11%), compared with 3% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. Assault under Article 128 was the most common charge: 43% compared with 36%.
Drug charges under Article 112a were in 33% of cases, compared with 30%. Article 134, the general article, was in 17%, compared with 13%. Article 92 (orders violation) was less common: 13% compared with 18%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 13%, compared with 16%. AWOL under Article 86 was charged in 7%, the same as the service rate. Attempts under Article 80 were charged in 9%, compared with 11%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 23 | 43% | 36% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 18 | 33% | 30% |
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 17% | 13% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 7 | 13% | 16% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 7 | 13% | 18% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 6 | 11% | 3% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 5 | 9% | 11% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 4 | 7% | 7% |
Outcomes by Charge
22 of 23 cases charging assault under Article 128 ended in a conviction on that article (96%), with a median confinement of 1 year. All 18 drug cases under Article 112a ended in a conviction on that article, with a median of 7 months. All 9 cases under Article 134 also ended in a conviction on that article, with a median of 1.4 years.
Each median covers the whole sentence. The rows overlap because a case can include several of these charges.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 23 | 22 (96%) | 1 year |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 18 | 18 (100%) | 7 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 9 (9 of 9) | 1.4 years |
Court Level
General courts-martial were 23 of the 57 cases (40%), about the same as the 41% across the Navy and Marine Corps. A general court-martial can adjudge any lawful sentence, including a dishonorable discharge. The other 34 cases were special courts-martial, which cap confinement at one year.
The median confinement was 1.5 years in general courts-martial and 5 months in special courts-martial.
Rank of the Accused
The accused included 42 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) and 11 NCOs (E-5 to E-9). This group was more junior than all Navy and Marine Corps cases, where 64% of the accused were junior enlisted.
Comparing 2019 and 2020
Camp Pendleton tried 74 cases in 2019 and 57 in 2020. The median confinement increased from 5 months to 7 months. The share of convictions with confinement increased from 83% to 98%. The general court-martial share increased from 35% to 40%. In groups this small a few cases can change these figures, so they show direction, not precise size.
Pleas are not recorded for this base in either year. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so the data cannot show how often cases here were contested.
| 2019 | 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 74 | 57 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | — |
| Convictions with confinement | 83% | 98% |
| Median confinement | 5 months | 7 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 57% | 74% |
| General courts-martial | 35% | 40% |
Compared With Camp Lejeune and Bremerton
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (51 cases) had a median confinement of 8 months and a punitive discharge rate of 87%, both higher than Camp Pendleton. Bremerton, Washington (38 cases) had a median confinement of 4 months and a punitive discharge rate of 50%. At Bremerton, 26% of cases were contested, and 0 of 10 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Pendleton, California | 57 | — | — | 7 months | 74% |
| Camp Lejeune, North Carolina | 51 | — | — | 8 months | 87% |
| Bremerton, Washington | 38 | 26% | 0 of 10 | 4 months | 50% |
What the Records Do Not Show
These numbers cover only cases that went to a court-martial. Cases resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. The records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms, and they give trial dates, not offense dates.
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 2020 (57 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 2019: 74 Courts-Martial, Year in Review (previous / next)
- Camp Pendleton, California in 2021: 60 Courts-Martial, Year in Review (previous / next)
- What Was Tried at Camp Pendleton, California, 2019–2023? 291 Courts-Martial (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
- 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, 2020
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.