Comparing Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Benning: Army Courts-Martial, 2024–2026
Fort Leonard Wood had 38 courts-martial from 2024–2026, and Fort Benning had 37. The median confinement at Fort Leonard Wood was 2 months, compared with 5 months at Fort Benning, and 52% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 60% at Fort Benning.
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Trends › By Installation › Fort Leonard Wood › vs. Fort Benning
Short answer: Fort Leonard Wood had 38 courts-martial from 2024–2026, and Fort Benning had 37. The median confinement at Fort Leonard Wood was 2 months, compared with 5 months at Fort Benning, and 52% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 60% at Fort Benning.
A Median Confinement of 2 Months
36 Fort Leonard Wood cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 31 of those sentences included confinement (86%). The median confinement was 2 months. At Fort Benning, the median was 5 months.
58% of Fort Leonard Wood convictions carried confinement under 6 months, against 45% at Fort Benning. Sentences of 6 months to 1 year were less common at Fort Leonard Wood: 6% against 21%.
These are adjudged sentences, as announced at trial and before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
Sentences of More Than 1 Year
Sentences of more than one year came about as often at both installations: 8 of 36 convictions at Fort Leonard Wood (22%), against 24% at Fort Benning. Within that group, 11% of Fort Leonard Wood convictions carried 5 years or more, compared with 3% at Fort Benning. 1 Fort Leonard Wood sentence was life.
Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. A special court-martial is capped at one year.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Fort Benning cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 5 | 14% | 9% |
| Under 6 months | 21 | 58% | 45% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 2 | 6% | 21% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4 | 11% | 21% |
| 5 years or more | 4 | 11% | 3% |
Punitive Discharges
16 of 31 convicted enlisted members at Fort Leonard Wood received a punitive discharge: 9 bad-conduct discharges and 7 dishonorable discharges. That is 52%, against 60% at Fort Benning.
5 convicted officers or warrant officers appear in the Fort Leonard Wood records, and 2 were dismissed. A dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Which Charges Appeared
All 38 Fort Leonard Wood cases have a charge list. A case with three articles appears in three rows.
Article 134 (the general article) and Article 128 (assault) were each charged in 24% of cases. At Fort Benning, the shares were 23% and 26%. Article 128b (domestic violence) appeared in 16% of Fort Leonard Wood cases and 17% of Fort Benning cases.
Two charges were more common at Fort Leonard Wood. Article 113 (drunken or reckless operation of a vehicle) appeared in 11% of cases, against 0% at Fort Benning. Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) appeared in 11%, against 3%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Fort Benning |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 24% | 23% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 24% | 26% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 6 | 16% | 17% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 4 | 11% | 11% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 4 | 11% | 3% |
| Art. 113 Drunken or reckless operation of vehicle | 4 | 11% | 0% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 3 | 8% | 11% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 3 | 8% | 6% |
Every Case on the Top 2 Charges Ended in a Conviction
All 9 cases charging Article 134 ended in a conviction on that article, with a median confinement of 53 days. All 9 cases charging Article 128 also ended in a conviction on that article, with a median of 32 days.
A single case can include both articles, so these rows can overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 9 (9 of 9) | 53 days |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 9 (9 of 9) | 32 days |
Pleas and Contested Cases
Fort Leonard Wood had 31 guilty pleas and 7 contested cases. A contested case is one with a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 18%, about the same as the 20% at Fort Benning.
29 of the 31 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement, and 2 have no entry. Army records say whether an agreement existed, not what it said.
Of the 7 contested cases at each installation that reached a verdict, 2 ended in a full acquittal at Fort Leonard Wood and 4 at Fort Benning. These counts are small.
Court Level, Forum, and Rank
Fort Leonard Wood held 22 general courts-martial and 15 special courts-martial, with 1 case not listed. The general share was 59%, lower than the 78% at Fort Benning. At general courts-martial, 90% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 8 months. At special courts-martial, 80% did, with a median of 31 days.
Members heard 16% of cases with the forum listed: 5 enlisted panels and 1 officer panel. The other 32 were judge alone. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas.
14 accused were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 19 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 5 were officers or warrant officers. The sheet describes this mix as similar to Fort Benning, where 35% were junior enlisted.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Leonard Wood | 38 | 18% | 2 of 7 | 2 months | 52% |
| Fort Benning | 37 | 20% | 4 of 7 | 5 months | 60% |
Years and Rule Changes
The records run from January 2024 to October 2026. By year: 2024: 15, 2025: 11, 2026: 12. The 2026 count is a partial year.
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records do not give offense dates, so the cases here fall under a mix of old and new rules.
Outside These Records
Only cases that reached a courtroom appear here. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, and cases with no action are not included, and the records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Fort Leonard Wood (38) and Fort Benning (37) with trial dates in 2024–2026. Each figure for Fort Leonard Wood is set beside the same figure for Fort Benning.
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)
- Fort Benning: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Camp Humphreys and Fort Riley, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Comparing Fort Hood and Fort Campbell: Army Courts-Martial, 2024–2026
- Comparing Fort Polk and Fort Knox: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
- Comparing Fort Riley and Fort Benning: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
- Comparing Fort Sill and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
- Comparing Fort Stewart and Kaiserslautern (Europe): Army Courts-Martial, 2024–2026
- Comparing Wheeler Army Airfield and Fort Drum: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Fort Leonard Wood, 2024–2026
- Larry A. Babin Jr.
- Jerrod B. Fussnecker
- Frederic P. Gallun
- Laura A. Odonnell
- Scott A. Oravec
- Alexander N. Pickands
- Kenton E. Spiegler
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.