A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2023
Fort Benning held 21 courts-martial in 2023, and 17 of them were guilty pleas. Only 19% of cases were contested, compared with 31% across the Army. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months Army-wide, and none of the 4 contested cases ended in a full acquittal.
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Trends › By Installation › Fort Benning › 2023
Short answer: Fort Benning held 21 courts-martial in 2023, and 17 of them were guilty pleas. Only 19% of cases were contested, compared with 31% across the Army. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months Army-wide, and none of the 4 contested cases ended in a full acquittal.
Mostly Guilty Pleas
The records show 21 cases at Fort Benning, tried between January 2023 and November 2023. In 17 of them, the accused pleaded guilty. The other 4 were contested, meaning the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 19%, lower than the 31% for the rest of the Army in 2023.
All 17 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement (17 of 17). Army records say whether there was an agreement but not what it said. None of the 4 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (0 of 4). A full acquittal means a finding of not guilty on every charge.
Few Cases Went to a Panel
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. At Fort Benning, a military judge alone decided 18 of the 21 cases (86%). Members heard 3, all of them enlisted panels.
Sentence Lengths
All 21 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. Confinement was part of 81% of the sentences. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months for the whole Army. Among the sentences that included confinement, a quarter were 1 year or longer.
Sentences under 6 months made up 9 convictions (43%), and 4 convictions (19%) had no confinement. Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 5 convictions (24%), compared with 16% across the Army.
Fewer Sentences Over 1 Year
Confinement longer than one year was part of 3 of 21 convictions (14%). Across the Army, the share was 28%. Of those 3, 1 sentence was 5 years or more.
Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. A special court-martial is capped at one year. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Army-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 4 | 19% | 16% |
| Under 6 months | 9 | 43% | 39% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 5 | 24% | 16% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 2 | 10% | 21% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 5% | 8% |
What Was Charged
All 21 records list the charges. Article 134, the general article, was the most common, in 6 cases (29%), compared with 24% across the Army. Assault under Article 128 appeared in 4 cases (19%), less often than the 26% Army-wide.
Attempts under Article 80 appeared in 3 cases (14%), compared with 8%. Soliciting under Article 82 and burglary or unlawful entry under Article 129 each appeared in 2 cases (10%). Their Army-wide shares were 1% and 3%. Article 120b (child sexual abuse) also appeared in 10% of cases, compared with 8%. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 10%, compared with 8%, and Article 92, failure to obey an order or regulation, appeared in 10%, compared with 11%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, all Army cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 6 | 29% | 24% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 4 | 19% | 26% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 3 | 14% | 8% |
| Art. 82 Soliciting | 2 | 10% | 1% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 2 | 10% | 8% |
| Art. 129 Burglary; unlawful entry | 2 | 10% | 3% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 2 | 10% | 11% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 2 | 10% | 8% |
Punitive Discharges
Of 20 convicted enlisted members, 14 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (70%). The Army-wide share was 74%. Of the 14, 1 was a dishonorable discharge.
The records also show 1 convicted officer or warrant officer, who was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
NCOs Outnumbered Junior Enlisted
The accused were 13 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), 7 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), and 1 officer or warrant officer. That group is more senior than the Army as a whole, where 56% of the accused were junior enlisted.
General courts-martial made up 15 of the 21 cases (71%), lower than the 76% across the Army. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial cannot.
Fort Carson and Fort Polk
Fort Carson (20 cases) and Fort Polk (23 cases) tried a similar number of cases in 2023. Both had higher contested shares: 50% at Fort Carson and 35% at Fort Polk. Full acquittals came in 3 of 10 contested cases at Fort Carson and 6 of 8 at Fort Polk.
Both also had longer median confinement, 6 months at Fort Carson and 1.4 years at Fort Polk. Their punitive discharge shares for enlisted members were 94% and 100%, compared with 70% at Fort Benning.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Benning | 21 | 19% | 0 of 4 | 5 months | 70% |
| Fort Carson | 20 | 50% | 3 of 10 | 6 months | 94% |
| Fort Polk | 23 | 35% | 6 of 8 | 1.4 years | 100% |
What the Records Do Not Show
The records list trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the terms of the plea agreements. Cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are not part of these records.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Fort Benning with a trial date in 2023 (21 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
- Fort Benning: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2022 (previous / next)
- Fort Benning in 2024: 15 Courts-Martial, Year in Review (previous / next)
- What Was Tried at Fort Benning, 2021–2023? 50 Courts-Martial (the whole period)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Camp Humphreys: 2024
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Camp Humphreys: 2025
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2025
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Fort Benning, 2023
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.