How Often Do Army Courts-Martial End in a Partial Acquittal?
Of 723 contested Army courts-martial that reached a verdict from 2021–2025, 299 ended in a partial acquittal (41%). Another 276 ended in a full acquittal (38%).
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Trends › How Often Do Army Courts-Martial End in a Partial Acquittal?
Short answer: Of 723 contested Army courts-martial that reached a verdict from 2021–2025, 299 ended in a partial acquittal (41%). Another 276 ended in a full acquittal (38%). In a partial acquittal, the accused is found not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another, so the case still ends in a conviction and a sentence.
What a Partial Acquittal Means
A partial acquittal is a mixed verdict. The accused is found not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of at least one other. The case still ends in a conviction, and a sentence follows.
This post looks only at contested cases. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, either a not-guilty plea or a mixed plea. All 723 Army cases here had that kind of plea. Army results list findings charge by charge, so the records show which charges ended in a not-guilty finding.
How the 723 Contested Cases Ended
299 of the 723 contested cases ended in a partial acquittal (41%). 276 ended in a full acquittal, meaning the accused was acquitted of all charges (38%).
The remaining contested cases ended in a conviction on every charge that reached a finding. In total, 447 of the 723 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge.
Full Acquittals by Who Decided Guilt
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. The forum is listed for 702 of the contested cases. Members heard 421 of them (60%): 351 enlisted panels and 70 officer panels. A military judge alone heard 281.
Full acquittals were more common before members. 186 of the 421 members cases ended in a full acquittal (44%), compared with 69 of the 281 judge-alone cases (25%).
Which Charges Ended in a Conviction?
A conviction on one article and an acquittal on another can happen in the same case. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 347 contested cases, and 143 ended in a conviction on that article (41%), the lowest share among the top charges.
Article 128 (assault) ended in a conviction on that article in 127 of 244 cases (52%), and Article 134, the general article, in 71 of 133 (53%). Article 128b (domestic violence) had the highest share, with 69 of 122 cases (57%).
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 347 | 143 (41%) | 2.7 years |
| Art. 128 Assault | 244 | 127 (52%) | 1.5 years |
| Art. 134 General article | 133 | 71 (53%) | 1.6 years |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 122 | 69 (57%) | 9 months |
The Charges in Contested Army Cases
711 of the 723 records list the charges. Article 120 appeared in 49% of the contested cases and Article 128 in 34%. Article 134 appeared in 19%, Article 128b in 17%, and Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) in 14%.
Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) appeared in 11%. Each article counts once per case, so a case with several articles appears in several rows.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, contested Army cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 347 | 49% | 49% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 244 | 34% | 34% |
| Art. 134 General article | 133 | 19% | 19% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 122 | 17% | 17% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 102 | 14% | 14% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 78 | 11% | 11% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 62 | 9% | 9% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 62 | 9% | 9% |
Sentences After a Conviction
Confinement was part of 75% of the 447 convictions. The median confinement was 1.5 years, and a quarter of the sentences with confinement were 4 years or longer. 3 sentences were confinement for life.
112 convictions had no confinement (25%). 195 of the 447 convictions were sentenced to more than one year (44%), and 69 of those were 5 years or more. The median confinement for a conviction on Article 120 was 2.7 years. For Article 128b it was 9 months.
These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, contested Army cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 112 | 25% | 25% |
| Under 6 months | 98 | 22% | 22% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 42 | 9% | 9% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 126 | 28% | 28% |
| 5 years or more | 69 | 15% | 15% |
General and Special Courts-Martial
608 of the contested cases were general courts-martial and 105 were special courts-martial. The court level is not listed for 10 cases. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
At general courts-martial, 82% of convictions brought confinement, and the median was 2 years. At special courts-martial, 42% did, and the median was 2 months.
Discharges and Rank
A punitive discharge followed 64% of enlisted convictions: 164 dishonorable discharges and 84 bad-conduct discharges. 57 convicted officers or warrant officers appear here, and 30 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Among the accused with rank recorded, 314 were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 327 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 80 were officers or warrant officers.
Installations, Years, and Gaps in the Records
Fort Hood had 84 of these cases, Fort Bragg had 71, Joint Base Lewis-McChord had 57, Wheeler Army Airfield had 45, and Fort Carson had 39. These 5 installations account for 41% of the 723 cases. The yearly count was 190 in 2021, 175 in 2022, 147 in 2023, 124 in 2024, and 87 in 2025.
Army records in this data are sparse before 2021. The December 2023 rule changes depend on the offense date, which the records do not give. The records 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
Army courts-martial with trial dates in 2021–2025, a not-guilty or mixed plea, and a result posted (723).
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
- Army Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- Are Convicted Military Officers Dismissed?
- Can a Special Court-Martial Give a Dishonorable Discharge?
- Court-Martial Sentences: Junior Enlisted Members Compared With NCOs
- Does Every Court-Martial Conviction Bring a Punitive Discharge?
- Does Pleading Guilty at a Court-Martial Mean Confinement?
- How Often Do Contested Courts-Martial End in a Full Acquittal?
- Judge Alone or Members: How Contested Army and Air Force Cases Ended
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.