Comparing Fort Sill and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson: Army Courts-Martial, 2020–2023
Fort Sill had 37 Army courts-martial in the 2020–2023 records, and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson had 32.
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Trends › By Installation › Fort Sill › vs. Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson
Short answer: Fort Sill had 37 Army courts-martial in the 2020–2023 records, and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson had 32. Article 128b (domestic violence) was charged in 19% of Fort Sill cases, against 3% at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, and 77% of convicted enlisted members at Fort Sill received a punitive discharge, against 65%.
Domestic Violence and Child Sexual Abuse Charges
36 of the 37 Fort Sill records list the charges. Each article counts once per case.
Article 128b (domestic violence) was charged in 19% of Fort Sill cases and 3% of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson cases. Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) was charged in 14% and 3%. Article 93a (prohibited activities with a recruit or trainee) appeared in 11% of Fort Sill cases and 0% of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson cases.
Article 128 (assault) and Article 134 (the general article) were each charged in 25% of Fort Sill cases. At Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, the shares were 34% and 31%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 19% of Fort Sill cases and 14% of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson cases, and Article 107 (false official statements) in 14% and 10%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in the same years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 25% | 34% |
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 25% | 31% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 7 | 19% | 14% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 7 | 19% | 3% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 5 | 14% | 3% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 5 | 14% | 10% |
| Art. 93a Prohibited activities with recruit or trainee | 4 | 11% | 0% |
| Art. 129 Burglary before 2019, burglary and unlawful entry since | 3 | 8% | 7% |
Punitive Discharges
24 of 31 convicted enlisted members at Fort Sill received a punitive discharge: 12 bad-conduct discharges and 12 dishonorable discharges. The share was 77%, against 65% at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
1 convicted officer or warrant officer appears in the Fort Sill records, and 1 was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
More Long Sentences at Fort Sill
Confinement was part of 94% of the 32 Fort Sill convictions. The median confinement was 6 months, about the same as the 5 months at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
The difference was in the longer bands. 12 of 32 Fort Sill convictions carried more than one year (38%), against 18% at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. 12% of Fort Sill convictions carried 5 years or more, against 0%. Only 6% of Fort Sill convictions carried no confinement, compared with 18% at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year; a special court-martial is capped at one year.
These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 2 | 6% | 18% |
| Under 6 months | 13 | 41% | 43% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 5 | 16% | 21% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 8 | 25% | 18% |
| 5 years or more | 4 | 12% | 0% |
Verdicts When the Accused Contested
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. 10 contested cases at Fort Sill reached a verdict. 4 ended in a full acquittal (40%), and 4 more split the charges.
At Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, 2 of 6 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are common in Army records.
Pleas and Plea Agreements
26 accused at Fort Sill pleaded guilty and 11 contested at least one charge. The contested share was 30%, against 25% at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
All 26 guilty pleas are recorded with a plea agreement. Army records say whether an agreement existed, not what it said.
The Two Largest Charges
All 9 cases charging Article 134 ended in a conviction on that article, with a median confinement of 3 years. Article 128 ended in a conviction on that article in 7 of 9 cases, with a median of 1 year.
One case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so these rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 7 (7 of 9) | 1 year |
| Art. 134 General article | 9 | 9 (9 of 9) | 3 years |
Who Decided Guilt
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. Members heard 19% of Fort Sill cases with the forum listed, all 7 of them enlisted panels. The other 29 were judge alone.
Among contested cases, members heard 7 of 10 (70%). Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the split mostly follows how many cases were contested.
Court Level and Rank
General courts-martial made up 86% of the 35 Fort Sill cases with a court level listed (30 of 35). A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge.
By rank, the accused were 20 junior enlisted members, 16 NCOs, and 1 officer. The sheet describes this group as similar to the accused at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Fort Sill | 37 | 30% | 4 of 10 | 6 months | 77% |
| Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson | 32 | 25% | 2 of 6 | 5 months | 65% |
Years Covered and Limits
The Fort Sill records run from January 2021 through December 2023, with no cases in 2020. By year: 2021: 11, 2022: 9, 2023: 17. The services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020.
These records include only cases that reached a courtroom. 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 Sill (37) and Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson (32) with trial dates in 2020–2023. Each figure for Fort Sill is set beside the same figure for Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson.
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 Sill: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson: 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 Leonard Wood and Fort Benning: 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 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 Sill, 2020–2023
- Lanny Acosta Jr.
- Jacqueline L. Emanuel
- Scott Z. Hughes
- Dasean A. Jones
- Maureen A. Kohn
- Joseph T. Marcee
- Daniel L. Mazzone
- Scott D. Meaders
- Scott A. Oravec
- Tiffany D. Pond
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.