JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii Courts-Martial, 2016–2018: What 24 Cases Show
Air Force records hold 24 courts-martial at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii from May 2016 through October 2018. Drug charges under Article 112a were in 77% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 48% across the Air Force.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii › 2016–2018
Short answer: Air Force records hold 24 courts-martial at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii from May 2016 through October 2018. Drug charges under Article 112a were in 77% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 48% across the Air Force. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 4 months across the Air Force. A punitive discharge was part of 45% of enlisted convictions, compared with 55%.
Drug Charges in Most Cases
Charge lists exist for 22 of the 24 cases. Article 112a (wrongful use or possession of controlled substances) was charged in 17 of them, or 77%, compared with 48% in all Air Force cases in the same years. No other article was charged in more than 3 cases here.
Article 134 (the general article) was charged in 3 cases, or 14%, lower than the 25% across the Air Force. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) and Article 120b (sexual offenses against a child) were each charged in 2 cases, and Article 118 (murder) in 1. Each article counts once per case, so one case can count under several articles.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, all Air Force cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 17 | 77% | 48% |
| Art. 134 General article | 3 | 14% | 25% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 2 | 9% | 9% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 2 | 9% | 10% |
| Art. 120c Other sexual misconduct | 1 | 5% | 2% |
| Art. 118 Murder | 1 | 5% | 1% |
| Art. 111 Drunken or reckless driving | 1 | 5% | 4% |
Most Sentences Were Short, but a Few Were Long
Confinement was part of 77% of the 22 convictions. The median confinement was 3 months, shorter than the 4 months in the rest of the Air Force. A quarter of the sentences were 10 months or longer.
Most convictions had short sentences or none: 23% had no confinement (compared with 18% across the Air Force), and 55% were under 6 months (compared with 46%). Only 1 conviction was from 6 months to 1 year (5%, compared with 14%). Only 1 was from more than 1 year to under 5 years (5%, compared with 13%). 3 convictions, or 14%, were 5 years or more, compared with 8% across the Air Force.
4 of 22 convictions (18%) included more than one year of confinement, slightly lower than the 21% across the Air Force. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in a case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Air Force-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 5 | 23% | 18% |
| Under 6 months | 12 | 55% | 46% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 1 | 5% | 14% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 1 | 5% | 13% |
| 5 years or more | 3 | 14% | 8% |
Fewer Punitive Discharges
Among 22 convicted enlisted members, 10 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (45%). That is lower than the 55% across the Air Force. 4 of those 10 were dishonorable discharges, which only a general court-martial can impose.
A conviction without a punitive discharge can still be followed by an administrative separation, which court records do not show.
Members Heard 50% of Cases
Members heard 50% of cases at Pearl Harbor-Hickam, compared with 45% across the Air Force. Officer panels heard 8 cases and enlisted panels heard 4. A military judge alone decided the other 12.
The accused usually chooses whether a judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. Because Air Force records from this period rarely list guilty pleas, the forum split cannot be reliably compared with how many cases were contested.
Few Cases Ended in Full Acquittal
Only 2 of the 24 cases ended in a full acquittal (8%), compared with 20% in the rest of the Air Force. This rate counts all cases, not only contested ones, because Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list the plea when the accused pleaded guilty.
A More Senior Group of Accused
The accused were 13 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 11 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 0 officers or warrant officers. That mix is more senior than across the Air Force, where 63% were junior enlisted.
General courts-martial made up 38% of cases (9 of 24). Special courts-martial made up the rest. A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge; a special court-martial is capped at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Compared With FE Warren and Vandenberg
FE Warren AFB, Wyoming and Vandenberg SFB, California each tried 23 cases in the same years, close to Pearl Harbor-Hickam's 24. Pearl Harbor-Hickam had the shortest median confinement of the 3: 3 months, compared with 5 months at FE Warren and 8 months at Vandenberg.
Its punitive discharge rate, 45%, was about the same as FE Warren's 44% and lower than Vandenberg's 79%. The records for all of these installations lack the plea data needed to compare contested shares.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii | 24 | — | — | 3 months | 45% |
| FE Warren AFB, Wyoming | 23 | — | — | 5 months | 44% |
| Vandenberg SFB, California | 23 | — | — | 8 months | 79% |
The Rules That Applied and What the Records Omit
All of these trials took place before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019, so the older rules on panel size, special courts-martial, and plea agreements applied. The yearly counts were similar: 7 in 2016, 9 in 2017, and 8 in 2018, together 2% of the 991 Air Force courts-martial in those years.
The records show only what reached a courtroom. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, and cases with no action do not appear. The records also do not show the evidence or any plea terms. Air Force records also rarely list charges in full acquittals.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial in the data tried at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii with a trial date in 2016–2018 (24 cases), compared with all 991 Air Force trials in those years. Dates are trial dates.
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
- JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, 2019–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 34 Cases (another period)
- JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, 2024–2026: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 15 Cases (another period)
- FE Warren AFB, Wyoming Courts-Martial, 2016–2018: What 23 Cases Show (same years, similar size)
- Inside 23 Courts-Martial at Vandenberg SFB, California, 2016–2018 (same years, similar size)
- Did Drug Cases at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii Change After 2020?
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at JB Pearl Harbor-Hickam, Hawaii, 2016–2018
- Patricia A. Gruen
- Joseph S. Imburgia
- Bradley A. Morris
- Vance H. Spath
- Matthew P. Stoffel
- Charles E. Wiedie Jr.
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.