A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Leonard Wood: 2025
Fort Leonard Wood tried 11 courts-martial in 2025. The median confinement was 7.3 years, compared with 8 months across the Army, and 27% of cases were contested, compared with 20%. Members heard 27% of the cases, compared with 15% Army-wide.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 5 min read
Trends › By Installation › Fort Leonard Wood › 2025
Short answer: Fort Leonard Wood tried 11 courts-martial in 2025. The median confinement was 7.3 years, compared with 8 months across the Army, and 27% of cases were contested, compared with 20%. Members heard 27% of the cases, compared with 15% Army-wide.
Long Confinement Terms
Of 10 convictions, 60% included confinement. The median confinement was 7.3 years. In the Army as a whole the median was 8 months. This median rests on a small number of sentences.
The sentences are those adjudged at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and a single sentence covers all charges in a case. Of 7 convicted enlisted members, 5 received a punitive discharge, meaning a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge.
Child Sexual Offenses and Drunk Driving
All 11 records list charges, and one case can appear under several articles. Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) appeared in 3 cases (27%), compared with 8% across the Army. Article 113 (drunken or reckless operation of vehicle) also appeared in 3 cases (27%), compared with 2%.
Article 128b (domestic violence) and Article 134 (general article) each appeared in 3 cases (27%). Article 119b (child endangerment) appeared in 2 cases (18%), compared with 3% Army-wide.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, all Army cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 3 | 27% | 8% |
| Art. 113 Drunken or reckless operation of vehicle | 3 | 27% | 2% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 3 | 27% | 26% |
| Art. 134 General article | 3 | 27% | 22% |
| Art. 119b Child endangerment | 2 | 18% | 3% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 2 | 18% | 11% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 1 | 9% | 19% |
| Art. 127 Extortion | 1 | 9% | 0% |
Pleas and Verdicts
Guilty pleas resolved 8 cases. In the other 3, the accused entered a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share, 27%, is higher than the 20% in the rest of the Army. Of the 3 contested cases that reached a verdict, 1 ended in a full acquittal.
Panels Heard More Cases
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A judge alone heard 8 cases. Enlisted panels heard 2 and an officer panel heard 1. Members heard 27% of the cases, compared with 15% in the Army as a whole.
Rank and Court Level
The accused were 3 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 5 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 3 officers or warrant officers. Across the Army, 50% of the accused were junior enlisted, so this group was more senior.
General courts-martial made up 64% of the cases (7 of 11), and special courts-martial made up the rest. A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge.
Fort Drum and Fort Stewart
Fort Drum and Fort Stewart each tried 20 cases in 2025. Fort Leonard Wood had the highest contested share of the 3 installations, 27%, compared with 15% and 5%. Its median confinement, 7.3 years, was longer than the 5 months at Fort Drum and the 6 months at Fort Stewart.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Leonard Wood | 11 | 27% | 1 of 3 | 7.3 years | 5 of 7 |
| Fort Drum | 20 | 15% | 2 of 2 | 5 months | 94% |
| Fort Stewart | 20 | 5% | 0 of 1 | 6 months | 100% |
Limits of the Records
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses, and new sentencing parameters apply to offenses 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 Leonard Wood 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 Leonard Wood: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Leonard Wood: 2024 (previous / next)
- Fort Leonard Wood Courts-Martial, 2024–2026: What 38 Cases Show (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 Leonard Wood, 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.