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What Was Tried at Fort Leavenworth, 2020–2023? 14 Courts-Martial

Fort Leavenworth had 14 courts-martial in the records from 2020 to 2023. Article 128 (assault) was charged in 69% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 31% across the Army. Every conviction included confinement, and the median term was 1 year, compared with 6 months Army-wide.

Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 5 min read

Trends › By Installation › Fort Leavenworth › 2020–2023

Short answer: Fort Leavenworth had 14 courts-martial in the records from 2020 to 2023. Article 128 (assault) was charged in 69% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 31% across the Army. Every conviction included confinement, and the median term was 1 year, compared with 6 months Army-wide.

Based on 14 cases · 2020–2023 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Assault Charges in Most Cases

13 of the 14 records list charges. Article 128 (assault) appears in 9 of them (69%). Across all Army cases in those years, the share was 31%.

Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appears in 3 cases (23%), about the same as the 25% Army share. Each of the following appears in 1 case (8%): Article 131b (obstructing justice), Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation), Article 108 (military property loss, damage, or destruction), Article 115 (malingering before 2019, communicating threats since), Article 113 (misbehavior of a sentinel before 2019, drunken or reckless driving since), and Article 134 (the general article).

UCMJ ArticleCasesShare hereShare, the Army as a whole
Art. 128 Assault969%31%
Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault323%25%
Art. 131b Obstructing justice18%4%
Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation18%15%
Art. 108 Military property; loss, damage, destruction18%1%
Art. 115 Malingering before 2019, communicating threats since18%5%
Art. 113 Misbehavior of a sentinel before 2019, drunken or reckless driving since18%3%
Art. 134 General article18%22%

Confinement in Every Conviction

Of 12 convictions, 12 included confinement. The median term was 1 year, longer than the 6 months across the Army. A quarter of the terms were 4 years or longer.

Each term is an adjudged sentence, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. It covers every charge in its case.

General Courts-Martial in 13 of 14 Cases

13 of the 14 cases were general courts-martial (93%). A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. The other case was a special court-martial, which caps confinement at one year.

Punitive Discharges

4 of 10 convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge: 1 bad-conduct discharge and 3 dishonorable discharges. Across all Army cases in those years, the rate was 73%.

2 convicted officers appear here, and 1 was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Guilty Pleas and Judge-Alone Trials

12 accused pleaded guilty and 2 contested at least one charge. The contested share was 14%, compared with 35% across the Army. 1 of the 2 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal.

9 of the 12 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement, and 3 have no entry. Army records show whether an agreement existed, not what it said. A military judge alone decided all 14 cases. No panel of members heard a case.

Rank and Comparable Installations

By rank, the accused were 6 junior enlisted members, 6 NCOs, and 2 officers, a group more senior than the Army as a whole.

Fort McNair tried 21 cases and Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston tried 22 in these years. Fort McNair had the same 1-year median confinement, and Fort Sam Houston had 3 months. Their punitive discharge rates for enlisted convictions were 80% and 92%, both higher than the 40% at Fort Leavenworth.

InstallationCasesContestedFull acquittals (decided contested)Median confinementPunitive discharge (enlisted)
Fort Leavenworth1414%1 of 21 year40%
Fort McNair2129%1 of 41 year80%
Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston2241%6 of 93 months92%

Timeline and Record Limits

The trials ran from May 2020 to August 2023: 2 in 2020, 5 in 2021, 2 in 2022, and 5 in 2023. They are 1% of the 1,581 Army courts-martial in those years. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021.

Only what reached a courtroom is here. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, the evidence, and plea terms do not appear in these records.

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

How We Counted

Every court-martial in the data tried at Fort Leavenworth with a trial date in 2020–2023 (14 cases), compared with all 1,581 Army trials in those years. Dates are trial dates.

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.

Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Fort Leavenworth, 2020–2023

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.

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