What Fort Carson Tried in 2025
Fort Carson held 11 courts-martial in 2025, and 7 were contested (64%), compared with 20% across the Army. Of those 7 contested cases, 5 ended in a full acquittal. The case count went from 30 in 2024 to 11 in 2025.
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Trends › By Installation › Fort Carson › 2025
Short answer: Fort Carson held 11 courts-martial in 2025, and 7 were contested (64%), compared with 20% across the Army. Of those 7 contested cases, 5 ended in a full acquittal. The case count went from 30 in 2024 to 11 in 2025.
Contested Cases and Full Acquittals
The accused pleaded guilty in 4 cases and contested 7. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 64%, compared with 20% for the Army as a whole.
Full acquittals came in 5 of the 7 contested cases that reached a verdict. A full acquittal means a finding of not guilty on every charge.
Who Decided Guilt?
Among cases with the forum listed, members heard 50%: 4 enlisted panels and 1 officer panel. A military judge alone decided the other 5. The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt.
Compared With 2024
Fort Carson had 30 cases in 2024 and 11 in 2025. The contested share went from 33% to 64%. Full acquittals in contested cases went from 3 of 10 to 5 of 7. The general court-martial share went from 55% to 82%.
Among convictions, 6 of 6 included confinement in 2025, compared with 89% in 2024. The median confinement went from 4 months to 3 months. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 77% to 5 of 6. With so few cases, these changes show direction, not precise size. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| 2024 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 30 | 11 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 33% | 64% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 3 of 10 | 5 of 7 |
| Convictions with confinement | 89% | 6 of 6 |
| Median confinement | 4 months | 3 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 77% | 5 of 6 |
| General courts-martial | 55% | 82% |
Charges
All 11 records list the charges. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 3 cases (27%), compared with 11% across the Army. Attempts under Article 80 and failure to obey an order or regulation under Article 92 each appeared in 2 cases (18%). Their Army-wide shares were 7% and 8%.
Domestic violence under Article 128b appeared in 18% of cases, less often than the 26% Army-wide.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Army as a whole |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 3 | 27% | 11% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 2 | 18% | 26% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 2 | 18% | 7% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 2 | 18% | 8% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 2 | 18% | 19% |
| Art. 89 Disrespect toward superior officer; assault of superior officer | 1 | 9% | 2% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 1 | 9% | 3% |
| Art. 117a Wrongful broadcast of intimate visual images | 1 | 9% | 0% |
Rank and Court Level
The accused were 8 junior enlisted members, 2 NCOs, and 1 officer, a group more junior than the rest of the Army. General courts-martial made up 9 of the 11 cases (82%). A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Fort Drum and Fort Stewart
Fort Drum and Fort Stewart each tried 20 cases in 2025. Their contested shares were 15% and 5%. Their median confinement was 5 months and 6 months, and their punitive discharge shares were 94% and 100%.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Carson | 11 | 64% | 5 of 7 | 3 months | 5 of 6 |
| Fort Drum | 20 | 15% | 2 of 2 | 5 months | 94% |
| Fort Stewart | 20 | 5% | 0 of 1 | 6 months | 100% |
Rules and Limits
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot show which rules applied. They also do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial.
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 2025 (11 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: 2024 (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
- 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 Carson, 2025
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.