What Camp Pendleton, California Tried in 2022
Camp Pendleton, California tried 61 courts-martial in 2022, and 19 of them were contested. None of those 19 ended in a full acquittal (0 of 19), compared with 20% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
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Trends › By Installation › Camp Pendleton, California › 2022
Short answer: Camp Pendleton, California tried 61 courts-martial in 2022, and 19 of them were contested. None of those 19 ended in a full acquittal (0 of 19), compared with 20% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 90 (disobeying an officer) was charged in 12% of cases, compared with 4% service-wide, and 74% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge.
More Contested Cases, No Full Acquittals
The plea is listed in 57 of the 61 records: 38 guilty pleas and 19 not-guilty or mixed pleas. The contested share of 33% was the same as the rate for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2022. At Camp Pendleton in 2021, it was 16%.
No contested case ended in a full acquittal. Across all Navy and Marine Corps cases, 20% of contested cases that reached a verdict did. 4 contested cases at Camp Pendleton ended in a partial acquittal. A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.
Punitive Discharges Were More Common Than Service-Wide
Of 54 convicted enlisted members, 40 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (74%), compared with 64% across the Navy and Marine Corps. 12 of those 40 were dishonorable discharges. The rate was 65% in 2021.
The records also include 1 convicted officer or warrant officer, who was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Which Charges Were Brought?
Charges appear in 58 of the 61 records, and one case can be counted under several articles. Drug charges under Article 112a were the most common, at 28%, compared with 22% service-wide. Article 90, willfully disobeying a superior officer, was charged in 12%, compared with 4%.
Assault under Article 128 and Article 134, the general article, were each charged in 16% of cases. Both were lower than the service rates of 23% and 20%. Article 92 (orders violation) was charged in 14%, compared with 18%. Larceny under Article 121 was charged in 7%, the same as the service rate. Obstructing justice under Article 131b was charged in 7%, compared with 5%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 16 | 28% | 22% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 16% | 23% |
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 16% | 20% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 8 | 14% | 18% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 7 | 12% | 4% |
| Art. 131b Obstructing justice | 4 | 7% | 5% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 4 | 7% | 7% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 4 | 7% | 6% |
Charges That Always Ended in Conviction
Every case charging one of the most common articles ended in a conviction on that article. The counts were 16 of 16 for Article 112a, 9 of 9 each for Article 128 and Article 134, and 8 of 8 for Article 92.
The median confinement was 4 months for drug and orders charges, 1 year for assault, and 2 years for the general article. Each median covers the full sentence. The rows overlap when a case includes more than one of these articles.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 16 | 16 (100%) | 4 months |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 9 (9 of 9) | 1 year |
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 9 (9 of 9) | 2 years |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 8 | 8 (8 of 8) | 4 months |
Adjudged Confinement
Of 58 cases with a conviction on at least one charge, 52 included confinement (90%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the 6 months across the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of terms were 1.5 years or longer. All figures are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement limit, clemency, or appeal.
Sentences longer than one year were part of 14 of 58 convictions (24%), compared with 20%. 5 convictions (9%) included 5 years or more, compared with 4%. Terms under 6 months made up 41%, compared with 38%. 6 convictions (10%) included no confinement, compared with 17%.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 6 | 10% | 17% |
| Under 6 months | 24 | 41% | 38% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 14 | 24% | 25% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 9 | 16% | 16% |
| 5 years or more | 5 | 9% | 4% |
More Special Than General Courts-Martial
Camp Pendleton held 21 general and 40 special courts-martial. The general court-martial share was 34%, compared with 42% in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. In general courts-martial, 95% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 2.5 years.
A special court-martial caps confinement at one year. In special courts-martial, 87% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 3 months.
Rank and the Change From 2021
The accused included 49 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 6 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 officer or warrant officer. This group was more junior than all Navy and Marine Corps cases, where 65% were junior enlisted.
The number of cases was about the same: 60 in 2021 and 61 in 2022. The median confinement went from 7 months to 6 months. The general court-martial share went from 43% to 34%. In small groups a few cases can change these figures, so they show direction, not precise measurements.
| 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 60 | 61 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 16% | 33% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 0 of 9 | 0 of 19 |
| Convictions with confinement | 91% | 90% |
| Median confinement | 7 months | 6 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 65% | 74% |
| General courts-martial | 43% | 34% |
Compared With Norfolk and Camp Lejeune
At Norfolk, Virginia (50 cases), 26% of cases were contested, 5 of 13 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal, and the median confinement was 3 months. At Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (48 cases), 21% of cases were contested, 0 of 9 ended in a full acquittal, the median confinement was 8 months, and the punitive discharge rate was 77%.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Camp Pendleton, California | 61 | 33% | 0 of 19 | 6 months | 74% |
| Norfolk, Virginia | 50 | 26% | 5 of 13 | 3 months | 64% |
| Camp Lejeune, North Carolina | 48 | 21% | 0 of 9 | 8 months | 77% |
What the Records Do Not Show
The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. They do not show cases handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.
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 2022 (61 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 2021: 60 Courts-Martial, Year in Review (previous / next)
- Camp Pendleton, California in 2023: 39 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, 2022
- Andrew Braden
- Matthew Brower
- John Ferriter
- Andrea Goode
- Douglas Hatch
- Stephen Keane
- Yong Lee
- John Norman
- Derek Poteet
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.