Did Assault Cases at Fort Bliss Change After 2024?

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Based on 18 cases · 2024–2026 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Guilty Pleas With Plea Agreements

15 accused pleaded guilty and 3 contested at least one charge. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 17%, compared with 29% in all Army Article 128 cases.

All 15 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement. Army records say whether there was an agreement, not what it said. None of the 3 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal.

What Sentences Followed?

Confinement was part of 72% of the 18 convictions. Half of the terms were 5 months or less. The median in all Army Article 128 cases in 2024–2026 was 6 months.

Some sentences were much longer: among the sentences with confinement, a quarter were 4.5 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.

Punitive Discharges

11 of 17 convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge (65%): 5 bad-conduct and 6 dishonorable. The share in all Army Article 128 cases was 72%. 1 convicted officer or warrant officer appears here and was dismissed.

A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Changes From 2021–2023

In 2021–2023, Fort Bliss had 36 Article 128 cases, about 12 a year. Since 2024 the average has been about 6 a year, counting full years only. The median confinement went from 9 months to 5 months, and punitive discharges went from 79% to 65%.

Convictions with confinement went from 89% to 72%, and general courts-martial went from 83% to 76% of the cases with a court level listed. In the earlier period, 1 of 10 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. With 18 cases since 2024, these changes show direction only.

Assault Alone and With Other Charges

10 of the 18 cases charged Article 128 by itself, compared with 80 of 242 in all Army Article 128 cases. Article 128b (domestic violence), Article 120b (child sexual abuse), and Article 122 (robbery) each appeared in 2 cases. Article 112a (drug) and Article 113 (drunken or reckless driving) each appeared in 1.

When an assault charge appears with a sexual assault or domestic violence charge, it can describe part of the same incident.

Who Decided Guilt and Who Was Charged

A military judge alone decided 16 cases, and enlisted panels decided 2. Members heard 11% of the cases, compared with 17% across the Army.

The accused were 13 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 4 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 officer or warrant officer. That mix is more junior than all Army Article 128 cases, where 55% were junior enlisted. General courts-martial tried 13 of the 17 cases with a court level listed (76%).

Timing, Rules, and Limits

The trials ran from January 2024 to September 2026: 9 in 2024, 3 in 2025, and 6 in 2026, a partial year. They were 21% of the 84 courts-martial at Fort Bliss in those years.

Article 128 is not a covered offense, but special trial counsel who take a covered offense since December 28, 2023 can also take a related assault. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot show which rules applied. They also leave out the evidence, the plea terms, and nonjudicial punishment.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 128 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Article 128 Courts-Martial, 2016–2025

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.