A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Bliss: 2024
Almost every Fort Bliss court-martial in 2024 ended in a guilty plea. Of 40 cases, only 5 were contested (12%), compared with 27% across the Army.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Fort Bliss › 2024
Short answer: Almost every Fort Bliss court-martial in 2024 ended in a guilty plea. Of 40 cases, only 5 were contested (12%), compared with 27% across the Army. The median adjudged confinement was 5 months, about the same as the Army's 6 months, and 68% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge.
Most Cases Ended in Guilty Pleas
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. At Fort Bliss in 2024, 35 cases ended in guilty pleas and only 5 were contested. The contested share of 12% compares with 27% across the Army.
All 35 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement. Army records show that an agreement existed but not its terms. Of the 5 contested cases, 2 ended in a full acquittal.
Fewer Contested Cases Than in 2023
The number of cases rose from 29 in 2023 to 40 in 2024. The contested share fell from 28% to 12%. Full acquittals went from 4 of 8 contested cases that reached a verdict to 2 of 5.
Other figures also changed. Convictions with confinement fell from 92% to 82%. Punitive discharges for enlisted members fell from 79% to 68%. The general court-martial share fell from 79% to 67%. The median confinement went from 4 months to 5 months. These are small groups, so the changes show direction, not size.
| 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 29 | 40 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 28% | 12% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 4 of 8 | 2 of 5 |
| Convictions with confinement | 92% | 82% |
| Median confinement | 4 months | 5 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 79% | 68% |
| General courts-martial | 79% | 67% |
No Contested Special Courts-Martial
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge.
Fort Bliss held 26 general courts-martial, with a median confinement of 1 year, and 15% were contested. None of the 13 special courts-martial was contested, and their median confinement was 2 months. The court level is missing for 1 case. General courts-martial made up 67% of the 39 cases with a court level listed, compared with 75% across the Army.
A Wide Range of Sentences
Confinement was part of 82% of the 38 convictions. The median confinement was 5 months, and a quarter of terms were 3 years or longer.
Convictions with no confinement made up 18%, compared with 13% across the Army. Sentences longer than one year were part of 10 of 38 convictions (26%), compared with 28%. 4 convictions included 5 years or more. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement limit, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Army-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 7 | 18% | 13% |
| Under 6 months | 16 | 42% | 43% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 5 | 13% | 15% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 6 | 16% | 21% |
| 5 years or more | 4 | 11% | 7% |
Charges About the Same as Army-Wide
All 40 records list the charges, and an article is counted once per case. Assault under Article 128 was the most common charge, at 22%, about the same as the 23% elsewhere in the Army. Domestic violence under Article 128b was charged in 18% of cases, compared with 23% in the rest of the Army.
Article 134, the general article, was charged in 12% of cases, compared with 21%. Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child), willfully disobeying a superior officer under Article 90, and drug offenses under Article 112a were each charged in 10%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the rest of the Army |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 22% | 23% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 7 | 18% | 23% |
| Art. 134 General article | 5 | 12% | 21% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 4 | 10% | 9% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 4 | 10% | 6% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 4 | 10% | 8% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 3 | 8% | 7% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 3 | 8% | 12% |
Discharges and Rank
Of 38 convicted enlisted members, 26 received a punitive discharge: 16 bad-conduct discharges and 10 dishonorable discharges. Across all Army cases, the rate was 72%. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
The accused were 28 junior enlisted soldiers (E-1 to E-4), 11 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 officer or warrant officer. This group was more junior than the Army as a whole, where 53% of the accused were junior enlisted.
Few Panels
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A judge alone decided 36 of 40 cases (90%). Panels of members heard 4: 3 enlisted panels and 1 officer panel. Guilty pleas are usually heard by a judge alone, so the forum figures are consistent with the high guilty-plea rate.
Compared With Fort Bragg and Joint Base Lewis-McChord
Both bases tried a similar number of cases in 2024, and both had more contested cases. Fort Bragg had a contested share of 38%, and 6 of 13 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. Joint Base Lewis-McChord had a contested share of 41%, and 5 of 13 ended in a full acquittal.
The median confinement was longer at both: 8 months and 9 months. The punitive discharge rate was 70% at Fort Bragg and 84% at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Bliss | 40 | 12% | 2 of 5 | 5 months | 68% |
| Fort Bragg | 34 | 38% | 6 of 13 | 8 months | 70% |
| Joint Base Lewis-McChord | 32 | 41% | 5 of 13 | 9 months | 84% |
New Rules and What the Records Leave Out
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Both changes depend on offense dates, which these records do not include. As a result, 2024 trials include cases under both the old and new rules, and the data cannot show whether either change affected these numbers.
The records also do not include the evidence, plea terms, or anything resolved 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 Fort Bliss with a trial date in 2024 (40 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 Bliss: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Bliss: 2023 (previous / next)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Bliss: 2025 (previous / next)
- What Was Tried at Fort Bliss, 2024–2026? 84 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: 2022
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2023
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Fort Bliss, 2024
- Joseph R. Distaso
- Michael C. Friess
- Scott Z. Hughes
- Dasean A. Jones
- Maureen A. Kohn
- Joseph T. Marcee
- Rick B. Mathew
- Scott A. Oravec
- Javier E. Rivera Rosario
- Joseph K. Venghaus
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.