A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Carson: 2024
Fort Carson had 30 courts-martial in 2024. Article 81 (conspiracy) was charged in 17% of cases, compared with 3% Army-wide, and Article 121 (larceny) in 20%, compared with 7%. The median confinement was 4 months, shorter than the Army's 6 months.
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Trends › By Installation › Fort Carson › 2024
Short answer: Fort Carson had 30 courts-martial in 2024. Article 81 (conspiracy) was charged in 17% of cases, compared with 3% Army-wide, and Article 121 (larceny) in 20%, compared with 7%. The median confinement was 4 months, shorter than the Army's 6 months. Special courts-martial made up a larger share of cases than in 2023.
Conspiracy and Theft Charges
All 30 records list the charges, and each article counts once per case. Article 81 (conspiracy) was charged in 5 cases, a share of 17% compared with 3% in all Army cases. Article 121 (larceny) was charged in 6 (20%), compared with 7%.
Article 112a (drug offenses) was also charged more often than Army-wide, in 13% compared with 8%. So was Article 131b (obstructing justice), in 10% compared with 6%. Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 27% of cases compared with 23%. Article 120 (sexual assault) was charged in 20%, compared with 15%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Army as a whole |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 8 | 27% | 23% |
| Art. 134 General article | 7 | 23% | 21% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 6 | 20% | 7% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 6 | 20% | 15% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 5 | 17% | 3% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 4 | 13% | 12% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 4 | 13% | 8% |
| Art. 131b Obstructing justice | 3 | 10% | 6% |
More Special Courts-Martial
In 2024, general courts-martial made up 55% of the 29 Fort Carson cases with a court level listed (16 of 29), lower than the 75% across the Army. The court level is not listed for 1 case. 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 impose a dishonorable discharge.
Sentences differed by court level. All convictions at the 16 general courts-martial included confinement, with a median of 1.4 years. At the 13 special courts-martial, 75% did, with a median of 2 months. The court level is not listed for 1 case.
Other Changes From 2023
The number of cases increased from 20 to 30. The contested share fell from 50% to 33%. The enlisted punitive discharge share fell from 94% to 77%. The median confinement fell from 6 months to 4 months.
Full acquittals were 3 of 10 contested cases that reached a verdict in both years. These groups are small, so a few cases can change these figures.
| 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 20 | 30 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 50% | 33% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 3 of 10 | 3 of 10 |
| Convictions with confinement | 94% | 89% |
| Median confinement | 6 months | 4 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 94% | 77% |
| General courts-martial | 89% | 55% |
Contested Cases and Their Outcomes
A case is contested when the accused enters a not-guilty or mixed plea. At Fort Carson, 10 cases were contested and 20 ended in guilty pleas, a contested share of 33%, compared with 27% across the Army. Of the guilty pleas, 19 are recorded with a plea agreement and 1 has no entry. Army records note whether an agreement existed, not its terms.
Of the 10 contested cases that reached a verdict, 3 ended in a full acquittal (30%), lower than the 37% in all Army cases. Another 5 ended in a partial acquittal (50%), in which the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, which makes partial acquittals common.
Sentence Lengths
Of 27 convictions, 24 included confinement (89%). The median was 4 months, and a quarter of sentences were 2.5 years or longer. Sentences under 6 months made up 48% of convictions, compared with 43% Army-wide.
Sentences longer than one year were imposed in 7 of 27 convictions (26%), about the same as the Army's 28%. These are adjudged sentences, set before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Army-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 3 | 11% | 13% |
| Under 6 months | 13 | 48% | 43% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 4 | 15% | 15% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 6 | 22% | 21% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 4% | 7% |
Discharges and the Accused
Of 26 convicted enlisted members, 20 received a punitive discharge: 14 bad-conduct and 6 dishonorable. The Army-wide share was 72%. The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Junior enlisted soldiers (E-1 to E-4) made up 73% of the accused, NCOs 23%, and officers 3%. Across the Army, junior enlisted members were 53%.
Who Heard the Cases
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A judge alone decided 26 of 29 cases with the forum listed (90%), and members heard 3, all on enlisted panels. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas.
Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Fort Campbell
Joint Base Lewis-McChord tried 32 cases, and 41% were contested. It had 5 full acquittals in 13 contested cases that reached a verdict, a median confinement of 9 months, and an 84% enlisted punitive discharge share. Fort Campbell tried 27 cases, and 15% were contested. It had 2 full acquittals in 4, a median of 8 months, and a 91% punitive discharge share. Fort Carson had the shortest median and the lowest punitive discharge share of these installations.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Carson | 30 | 33% | 3 of 10 | 4 months | 77% |
| Joint Base Lewis-McChord | 32 | 41% | 5 of 13 | 9 months | 84% |
| Fort Campbell | 27 | 15% | 2 of 4 | 8 months | 91% |
Rules and Records
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel rather than commanders decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. The military judge sets the sentence within new parameters when every guilty finding involves an offense after December 27, 2023. Without offense dates, the records cannot separate cases under the old rules from cases under the new rules. They also cannot show whether either change affected these numbers.
Evidence, plea terms, and matters handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are also absent.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Fort Carson with a trial date in 2024 (30 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 Carson: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Carson: 2023 (previous / next)
- What Fort Carson Tried in 2025 (previous / next)
- Fort Carson, 2024–2026: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 45 Cases (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 Carson, 2024
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.