Article 93a Charges at Fort Knox, 2024–2026: Pleas, Verdicts, and Sentences

Trends › By Installation › Fort Knox › Article 93a, 2024–2026

Based on 11 cases · 2024–2026 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

All Guilty Pleas, All With Agreements

Every case had a guilty plea, and all 11 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement. A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge; there were none here. Army-wide, 5% of Article 93a cases in 2024–2026 were contested.

Army records show that an agreement existed. They do not show its terms, such as any limit on confinement.

Punitive Discharges Were Less Common Here

Of the 11 convicted enlisted members, 2 received a bad-conduct discharge, and none received a dishonorable discharge. The punitive discharge share was 18%. In all Army Article 93a cases in 2024–2026, it was 40%.

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

Confinement in Every Conviction

Confinement was part of 100% of the 11 convictions. The median confinement was 2 months, the same as the median in all Army Article 93a cases in 2024–2026. A quarter of the confinement terms were 3 months or longer.

These are the sentences announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.

NCOs Only

All 11 accused were NCOs (E-5 to E-9). No junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) or officers were charged. That matches Army Article 93a cases overall, where 0% of the accused were junior enlisted.

Charged With Orders Violations

Article 93a was the only charge in 3 of the 11 cases, compared with 6 of 20 Army-wide. Article 92 (orders violation) was charged with it in 6 cases. Article 107 (false official statement), Article 128 (assault), Article 112 (drunkenness on duty), and Article 131b (obstruction) each appeared in 1.

Court Level and Forum

General courts-martial heard 2 of the 10 cases with a court level listed (20%), and special courts-martial heard the rest. The court level is not listed for 1 case. A military judge alone decided guilt in 11 of 11 cases with the forum listed; no case went to a panel of members.

Timing and Law Changes

The yearly counts were 5 in 2024, 4 in 2025, and 2 in 2026, a partial year. These cases were 21% of the 52 courts-martial at Fort Knox in 2024–2026.

Special trial counsel took over prosecution decisions for covered offenses on December 28, 2023, and new sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. The records do not give offense dates, so these trials may mix cases under the old and new rules.

Limits of the Records

Only trial dates appear, not offense dates. The evidence, the plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, and administrative separations are outside these records.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

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.