What Fort Riley Tried in 2023
Fort Riley tried 19 courts-martial in 2023, and 17 ended in guilty pleas. The contested share was 11%, compared with 31% Army-wide, and the median confinement was 4 months, compared with 6 months. Of 18 convicted enlisted members, 83% received a punitive discharge.
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Trends › By Installation › Fort Riley › 2023
Short answer: Fort Riley tried 19 courts-martial in 2023, and 17 ended in guilty pleas. The contested share was 11%, compared with 31% Army-wide, and the median confinement was 4 months, compared with 6 months. Of 18 convicted enlisted members, 83% received a punitive discharge.
Mostly Guilty Pleas
In 17 of the 19 cases the accused pleaded guilty, and 2 contested at least one charge. The contested share, 11%, is lower than the 31% across the Army. Of the 2 contested cases that reached a verdict, 1 ended in a full acquittal.
Of the 17 guilty pleas, 15 are recorded with a plea agreement and 2 have no entry. Army records say whether there was an agreement, not what it said.
Military Offenses in the Charges
All 19 records list charges, and each article counts once per case. Article 134 (general article) and Article 128 (assault) each appeared in 5 cases (26%), about the same as the rest of the Army.
Article 86 (AWOL) appeared in 4 cases (21%), compared with 5% in the rest of the Army. Article 92 (failure to obey order or regulation) and Article 112a (wrongful use, possession of controlled substances) also each appeared in 21%, compared with 11% and 8%. Article 89 (disrespect toward superior officer; assault of superior officer) appeared in 3 cases (16%), compared with 2%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the rest of the Army |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 134 General article | 5 | 26% | 24% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 5 | 26% | 26% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 4 | 21% | 21% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 4 | 21% | 5% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 4 | 21% | 11% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 4 | 21% | 8% |
| Art. 89 Disrespect toward superior officer; assault of superior officer | 3 | 16% | 2% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 3 | 16% | 7% |
Confinement and Discharges
Of 18 convictions, 16 carried confinement. The median confinement was 4 months, shorter than the 6 months across the Army. A quarter of the sentences that included confinement were 2 years or longer.
Of 18 convicted enlisted members, 15 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (83%), more often than the 74% across the Army. Of those, 6 were dishonorable. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Rank and Court Level
By rank, the accused were 12 junior enlisted members and 7 NCOs, with no officers, a more junior group than in the Army as a whole.
There were 12 general and 6 special courts-martial, with 1 not listed. The general share, 67%, is lower than the 76% in the Army as a whole. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Who Decided Guilt
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A judge alone heard 17 cases, and enlisted panels heard 2, or 11% of the cases.
Fort Carson and Fort Benning
Fort Carson tried 20 cases in 2023 and Fort Benning tried 21. Fort Riley had the lowest contested share of the 3, 11%, compared with 50% and 19%. Its median confinement, 4 months, was shorter than the 6 months at Fort Carson and the 5 months at Fort Benning.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Riley | 19 | 11% | 1 of 2 | 4 months | 83% |
| Fort Carson | 20 | 50% | 3 of 10 | 6 months | 94% |
| Fort Benning | 21 | 19% | 0 of 4 | 5 months | 70% |
Beyond These Records
Only cases that reached a courtroom appear here. Cases resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or 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 Riley with a trial date in 2023 (19 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 Riley: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- Fort Riley in 2021: 18 Courts-Martial, Year in Review (previous / next)
- What Fort Riley Tried in 2024 (previous / next)
- Fort Riley Courts-Martial, 2020–2023: What 50 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
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Fort Riley, 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.