Dyess AFB, Texas Courts-Martial, 2019–2022: What 36 Cases Show
Drug cases were most of the courts-martial at Dyess AFB, Texas from 2019 to 2022. Of 36 cases, 27 have charges listed, and 78% of those charged Article 112a (drug), compared with 43% across the Air Force.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Dyess AFB, Texas › 2019–2022
Short answer: Drug cases were most of the courts-martial at Dyess AFB, Texas from 2019 to 2022. Of 36 cases, 27 have charges listed, and 78% of those charged Article 112a (drug), compared with 43% across the Air Force. 42% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 56% across the Air Force.
Drug Charges Were the Most Common
Charges are listed for 27 of the 36 cases, and one case can be counted under several articles. Article 112a, covering wrongful use and possession of controlled substances, was charged in 21 of those cases. That 78% share compares with 43% for all Air Force cases.
Article 92 (orders violation) was also charged more often than the service rate: 22% compared with 16%. Article 107 (false official statements) and Article 86 (AWOL) were each charged in 15% of cases, compared with 6% and 5% across the Air Force. Air Force records rarely list charges when a case ends in a full acquittal, so these shares come mostly from cases with a conviction.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the whole Air Force docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 21 | 78% | 43% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 6 | 22% | 16% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 4 | 15% | 20% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 4 | 15% | 6% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 4 | 15% | 5% |
| Art. 112 Drunk on duty before 2019, drunkenness on duty since | 2 | 7% | 0% |
| Art. 83 Fraudulent enlistment before 2019, malingering since | 2 | 7% | 0% |
| Art. 113 Misbehavior of a sentinel before 2019, drunken or reckless driving since | 1 | 4% | 4% |
Short Sentences, Few Over a Year
Of 27 convictions, 24 included confinement. The median confinement was 3 months, about the same as the 4 months for the Air Force as a whole. A quarter of terms were 4 months or longer.
Terms under 6 months were part of 20 convictions, or 74%, compared with 50% across the service. Only 1 of 27 convictions included more than one year (4%), compared with 23% in the rest of the Air Force. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement limit, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the whole Air Force docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 3 | 11% | 12% |
| Under 6 months | 20 | 74% | 50% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 3 | 11% | 15% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 1 | 4% | 16% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 7% |
Punitive Discharges Were Less Common Than Service-Wide
For enlisted airmen, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. 42% of convicted enlisted members at Dyess received one: 10 bad-conduct discharges and 1 dishonorable discharge. The rate for the Air Force as a whole was 56%.
The group includes 1 convicted officer, who was not dismissed. Dismissal is the officer form of a punitive discharge. An airman without a punitive discharge can still face a later administrative separation, which these records do not show.
Many Contested Cases Ended in Full Acquittal
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Of the 23 records that list a plea, 13 were guilty pleas and 10 were contested. The contested share was 43%, compared with 49% across the Air Force. From 2016 to 2019, Air Force records rarely list a guilty plea, and they never report plea agreements.
Of the 10 contested cases that reached a verdict, 6 ended in a full acquittal. That 60% rate was higher than the 50% for the Air Force as a whole. Only 1 case ended in a partial acquittal. Air Force results give one verdict per case, so a partial acquittal appears only when an appeals opinion reports it.
Who Decided Guilt?
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A judge alone decided 22 of 36 cases with a recorded forum (61%). Panels of members heard 14: 8 enlisted panels and 6 officer panels.
In contested cases, members heard 7 of 10 (70%). Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the overall forum figures are consistent with the number of contested cases.
Court Levels and Rank
A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. General courts-martial made up 28% of cases (10 of 36), and their median confinement was 8 months. The 26 special courts-martial, which cap confinement at one year, had a median confinement of 3 months.
Junior enlisted airmen in grades E-1 to E-4 made up 89% of the accused. NCOs made up 8%, and officers made up 3%. Across the Air Force, junior enlisted members were 64%.
Compared With Ramstein and Nellis
Ramstein AB, Germany tried 35 cases in these years, and Nellis AFB, Nevada tried 41. Ramstein had a higher contested share, 61%, and 8 of 17 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. At Nellis, 5 of 11 did.
The median confinement was 4 months at Ramstein and 6 months at Nellis. The punitive discharge rate for convicted enlisted members was 38% at Ramstein, 73% at Nellis, and 42% at Dyess.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dyess AFB, Texas | 36 | 43% | 6 of 10 | 3 months | 42% |
| Ramstein AB, Germany | 35 | 61% | 8 of 17 | 4 months | 38% |
| Nellis AFB, Nevada | 41 | 42% | 5 of 11 | 6 months | 73% |
Change From 2016–2018
The data includes 11 cases in 2019, 10 in 2020, 10 in 2021, and 5 in 2022. Together they are 3% of the 1,136 Air Force courts-martial in those years. In 2016–2018, Dyess had 21 cases, about 7 a year, compared with about 9 a year since, counting full years.
The median confinement was 3 months in both periods. Punitive discharges went from 41% to 42%. In small groups a few cases can change these figures, and the records cannot show why any figure changed or stayed the same.
| 2016–2018 | 2019–2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 21 | 36 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | 43% |
| Convictions with confinement | 88% | 89% |
| Median confinement | 3 months | 3 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 41% | 42% |
| General courts-martial | 24% | 28% |
What the Records Do Not Show
Only cases that went to a court-martial appear here. Matters resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. The records do not describe the evidence or any plea terms.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial in the data tried at Dyess AFB, Texas with a trial date in 2019–2022 (36 cases), compared with all 1,136 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
- Dyess AFB, Texas: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Dyess AFB, Texas Courts-Martial, 2016–2018: What 21 Cases Show (another period)
- Inside 15 Courts-Martial at Eielson AFB, Alaska, 2019–2022 (same years, similar size)
- Did Drug Cases at Dyess AFB, Texas Change After 2019?
- 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
- Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, 2016–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 27 Cases
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Dyess AFB, Texas, 2019–2022
- Christopher A. Brown
- Jefferson B. Brown
- Eric J. Cadotte
- Elizabeth M. Hernandez
- Christopher D. James
- Shad R. Kidd
- Brett A. Landry
- Sterling C. Pendleton
- Julie L. Pitvorec
- Jennifer J. Raab
- Matthew D. Talcott
- Charles G. Warren
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.