Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona Courts-Martial, 2019–2023: What 29 Cases Show
Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona tried 29 courts-martial from 2019 to 2023. Drug charges under Article 112a were in 59% of cases with charge lists, compared with 41% across the Air Force. The median adjudged confinement was 6 months, compared with 4 months across the Air Force.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona › 2019–2023
Short answer: Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona tried 29 courts-martial from 2019 to 2023. Drug charges under Article 112a were in 59% of cases with charge lists, compared with 41% across the Air Force. The median adjudged confinement was 6 months, compared with 4 months across the Air Force.
Drug Charges Were the Most Common
Article 112a covers wrongful use or possession of controlled substances. It was the most common charge at Davis-Monthan, in 13 cases. That is 59% of the 22 records that list charges, compared with 41% across all Air Force cases in those years.
Each article is counted once per case, so a case with several offenses is counted in several rows. Article 128 (assault) was charged in 23% of cases, compared with 19% service-wide. Article 86 (absence without leave) was charged in 14%, compared with 5% across the Air Force.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Air Force-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 13 | 59% | 41% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 5 | 23% | 19% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 18% | 21% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 3 | 14% | 5% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 3 | 14% | 16% |
| Art. 87b Offenses against correctional custody | 2 | 9% | 1% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 2 | 9% | 11% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 2 | 9% | 4% |
Longer Sentences After 2018
The base had 35 cases in 2016–2018, about 12 a year, compared with about 6 a year from 2019 on, counting full years. Sentences were more severe in the later period. The median confinement went from 3 months to 6 months. The share of convicted enlisted members who received a punitive discharge went from 20% to 59%.
The share of cases tried as general courts-martial rose from 23% to 52%. These are small groups, so a few cases can change a rate. The changes show direction, not precise measurements. The records cannot show why the numbers changed.
| 2016–2018 | 2019–2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 35 | 29 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | 56% |
| Convictions with confinement | 77% | 86% |
| Median confinement | 3 months | 6 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 20% | 59% |
| General courts-martial | 23% | 52% |
How Much Confinement?
Of 22 cases that ended in a conviction on at least one charge, 19 included confinement (86%). The median of 6 months was longer than the 4-month median in the rest of the Air Force. A quarter of the sentences were 1.2 years or longer.
Sentences longer than one year were about as common as across the Air Force: 5 of 22 convictions (23%), compared with 23%. All figures are adjudged sentences, meaning the sentence imposed at trial before any plea-agreement limit, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the rest of the Air Force |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 3 | 14% | 12% |
| Under 6 months | 10 | 45% | 50% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 4 | 18% | 15% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4 | 18% | 17% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 5% | 6% |
Pleas and Acquittals
Only 16 of the 29 records list a plea. Of those, 9 were not-guilty or mixed pleas and 7 were guilty pleas. The contested share was 56%, compared with 50% across the Air Force. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge.
7 of the 29 cases ended in a full acquittal (24%), the same 24% as across the Air Force. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea, so the rate is measured against all cases, not only contested cases.
Panels Heard Most Cases
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. At Davis-Monthan, panels of members heard 62% of cases with a recorded forum: 11 enlisted panels and 7 officer panels. A judge alone heard the other 11, and most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas.
The panel share is consistent with the plea figures. 56% of recorded pleas were contested, a higher share than across the Air Force. Enlisted panels heard more cases than officer panels: 11 compared with 7.
Discharges and Rank
Of 22 convicted enlisted members, 13 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (59%), slightly more often than across the Air Force (56%). 3 of those were dishonorable discharges. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
The accused were 20 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 9 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 0 officers. This group was more junior than the Air Force as a whole, where 64% were junior enlisted.
Court Levels and Similar Bases
There were 15 general and 14 special courts-martial. The general court-martial share was 52%, compared with 53% across the Air Force. A special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. The median confinement was 10 months in general courts-martial and 4 months in special courts-martial. 50% of general courts-martial were contested, and 4 of 6 special courts-martial with a recorded plea were contested.
Cannon AFB, New Mexico and Hurlburt Field, Florida each tried 29 cases in the same years. Both had higher contested shares than Davis-Monthan: 84% and 79%. The median confinement was 1.2 years at Cannon and 2 months at Hurlburt Field. Davis-Monthan's median of 6 months was between them.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona | 29 | 56% | 5 of 9 | 6 months | 59% |
| Cannon AFB, New Mexico | 29 | 84% | 9 of 16 | 1.2 years | 69% |
| Hurlburt Field, Florida | 29 | 79% | 7 of 15 | 2 months | 39% |
Cases Over Time and the Limits of the Data
The 29 cases were tried from March 2019 to December 2023: 13 in 2019, 7 in 2020, and 3 in each of 2021, 2022, and 2023. They are 2% of the 1,361 Air Force courts-martial in those years.
Trial records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, plea terms, or misconduct resolved through nonjudicial punishment. Air Force records rarely list charges in full acquittals and never report plea agreements.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial in the data tried at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona with a trial date in 2019–2023 (29 cases), compared with all 1,361 Air Force trials in those years. Dates are trial dates.
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
- Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, 2016–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 35 Cases (another period)
- What Was Tried at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, 2024–2026? 10 Courts-Martial (another period)
- Inside 29 Courts-Martial at Cannon AFB, New Mexico, 2019–2023 (same years, similar size)
- Inside 29 Courts-Martial at Hurlburt Field, Florida, 2019–2023 (same years, similar size)
- Andersen AFB, Guam Courts-Martial, 2016–2018: What 13 Cases Show
- Aviano AB, Italy Courts-Martial, 2016–2018: What 16 Cases Show
- Aviano AB, Italy, 2019–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 17 Cases
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona, 2019–2023
- John C. Degnan
- Colin P. Eichenberger
- Tobin C. Griffeth
- Diana L. Johnson
- Mark W. Milam
- Richard D. Mink
- Andrew R. Norton
- Jennifer E. Powell
- Rebecca E. Schmidt
- Christopher M. Schumann
- Matthew P. Stoffel
- Brian Michael Thompson
- Charles E. Wiedie Jr.
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.