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# What Joint Base Lewis-McChord Tried in 2021
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/joint-base-lewis-mcchord-courts-martial-2021/
- Published: 2026-10-28T06:54:19.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T08:12:53.000Z
- Description: Joint Base Lewis-McChord held 52 courts-martial in 2021. 8 of 19 decided contested cases ended in a full acquittal (42%), compared with 35% across the Army. Conspiracy under Article 81 was charged in 12% of cases, compared with 4% across the Army.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Army

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Installation](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-installation/) › [Joint Base Lewis-McChord](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/courts-martial-at-joint-base-lewis-mcchord/) › 2021

**Short answer:** Joint Base Lewis-McChord held 52 courts-martial in 2021\. 8 of 19 decided contested cases ended in a full acquittal (42%), compared with 35% across the Army. Conspiracy under Article 81 was charged in 12% of cases, compared with 4% across the Army.

Based on 52 cases · 2021 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

## More Full Acquittals Than Across the Army

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. In 2021, 19 contested cases reached a verdict. Of those, 8 ended in a full acquittal, a rate of 42%, compared with 35% in the rest of the Army.

Another 9 of the 19 ended in a partial acquittal (47%), meaning not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. Army records list findings charge by charge, so partial acquittals are easy to see.

## Conspiracy and Sexual Assault Were Charged More Often

Every one of the 52 cases has a charge list. Article 81 (conspiracy) was charged in 6 cases, or 12%, compared with 4% in all Army cases that year. Article 120 (sexual assault) was charged in 19 cases, 37% of all cases, compared with 29% across the Army.

Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 22 cases (42%, compared with 38%). The general article, Article 134, was next at 23%, then Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) at 19% and Article 112a (drug offenses) at 17%. Article 115, which covers communicating threats, was charged in 5 cases. A case with several articles counts once under each.

| UCMJ Article                                                                                                                                       | Cases | Share here | Share, all Army cases in those years |
| -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ----- | ---------- | ------------------------------------ |
| [Art. 128](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-128/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Assault                                   | 22    | 42%        | 38%                                  |
| [Art. 120](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-120-sexual-assault/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Rape and sexual assault                            | 19    | 37%        | 29%                                  |
| [Art. 134](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-134/?ref=bodiesburied.com) General article                           | 12    | 23%        | 21%                                  |
| [Art. 92](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-92/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Failure to obey order or regulation         | 10    | 19%        | 16%                                  |
| [Art. 112a](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-112a-drug-offenses/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 9     | 17%        | 12%                                  |
| [Art. 80](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-80/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Attempts                                    | 7     | 13%        | 9%                                   |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy                                                                                                                                 | 6     | 12%        | 4%                                   |
| [Art. 115](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-115/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Communicating threats                     | 5     | 10%        | 6%                                   |

## Which Charges Led to Convictions?

Results differed by article. Article 92 ended in a conviction on that article in 9 of 10 cases (90%), and Article 134 in 10 of 12 (83%). Assault under Article 128 ended in a conviction on that charge in 13 of 22 cases (59%).

Article 120 had the lowest rate: 6 of 19 cases (32%) ended in a conviction on that article. After an Article 120 conviction, the median confinement was 2 years, the longest among the most common charges. Because one case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, these rows overlap.

| Article                                     | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
| ------------------------------------------- | ----------------- | ----------------------- | --------------------------------------- |
| Art. 128 Assault                            | 22                | 13 (59%)                | 6 months                                |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault            | 19                | 6 (32%)                 | 2 years                                 |
| Art. 134 General article                    | 12                | 10 (83%)                | 1 year                                  |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 10                | 9 (90%)                 | 5 months                                |

## Pleas and Plea Agreements

Among the 52 cases, 33 were guilty pleas and 19 were not-guilty or mixed pleas, so 37% were contested. That is about the same as the 36% for all Army cases in 2021.

Of the 33 guilty pleas, 31 are recorded with a plea agreement and 2 have no entry. Army records note whether an agreement existed, not its terms. The share pleading guilty also differed by charge. 60% of cases charging Article 92 ended in a guilty plea (6 of 10), compared with 21% of those charging Article 120 (4 of 19). The records do not explain why.

## Who Decided Guilt

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides the case. Here, 34 cases went to a judge alone, 15 to an enlisted panel, and 2 to an officer panel. Members heard 33% of cases, compared with 22% in all Army cases that year.

Among contested cases, members heard 16 of 18 (89%). Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so the forum split mostly follows how many cases were contested.

## Most Confinement Sentences Were Short

Of 44 convictions, 40 included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as for the Army as a whole. A quarter of the sentences were 11 months or longer. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.

Longer sentences were less common than elsewhere. Only 7 of 44 convictions (16%) included more than one year, compared with 26% across the Army. Sentences from 6 months to 1 year made up 32% of convictions here, compared with 17% across the Army. Only 9% had no confinement, compared with 19%.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Army as a whole |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | -------------------------- |
| No confinement                  | 4           | 9%         | 19%                        |
| Under 6 months                  | 19          | 43%        | 37%                        |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 14          | 32%        | 17%                        |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4           | 9%         | 18%                        |
| 5 years or more                 | 3           | 7%         | 8%                         |

## Discharges and Rank

A punitive discharge, meaning a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for enlisted members, was part of 70% of enlisted convictions: 22 bad-conduct and 8 dishonorable. The rate across the Army was also 70%. The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was dismissed, the officer equivalent. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

The accused were 36 junior enlisted members, 15 NCOs, and 1 officer, a more junior group than across the Army. General courts-martial, which can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge, made up 71% of cases (37 of 52). Those cases had a median confinement of 9 months, and 43% were contested. The 15 special courts-martial had a median confinement of 2 months, and 20% were contested.

## Compared With Fort Bragg and Fort Hood

Fort Bragg and Fort Hood each tried 45 Army cases that year. Joint Base Lewis-McChord had the lowest contested share of the 3: 37%, compared with 44% and 58%. It had the highest full-acquittal rate in decided contested cases: 8 of 19, compared with 2 of 20 at Fort Bragg and 7 of 26 at Fort Hood.

Fort Hood had the longest sentences, with a median confinement of 1.1 years and an 86% punitive discharge rate. Joint Base Lewis-McChord and Fort Bragg both had a median confinement of 6 months.

| Installation             | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
| ------------------------ | ----- | --------- | ----------------------------------- | ------------------ | ----------------------------- |
| Joint Base Lewis-McChord | 52    | 37%       | 8 of 19                             | 6 months           | 70%                           |
| Fort Bragg               | 45    | 44%       | 2 of 20                             | 6 months           | 69%                           |
| Fort Hood                | 45    | 58%       | 7 of 26                             | 1.1 years          | 86%                           |

## What the Records Do Not Show

Under Article 140a, the services had to begin publishing trial records by December 2020, and Army records in this data are sparse before 2021, so 2021 has no earlier year to compare against. The records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, the terms of plea agreements, offense dates, and misconduct handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/).

### How We Counted

Every court-martial tried at Joint Base Lewis-McChord with a trial date in 2021 (52 cases).

Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.

## Related Analysis

- [Joint Base Lewis-McChord: Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/courts-martial-at-joint-base-lewis-mcchord/) (hub)
- [By Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-year/) (hub)
- [Joint Base Lewis-McChord in 2022: 47 Courts-Martial, Year in Review](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/joint-base-lewis-mcchord-courts-martial-2022/) (previous / next)
- [Inside 139 Courts-Martial at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, 2020–2023](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/joint-base-lewis-mcchord-courts-martial-2020-2023/) (the whole period)
- [A Year of Courts-Martial at Camp Humphreys: 2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/camp-humphreys-courts-martial-2024/)
- [A Year of Courts-Martial at Camp Humphreys: 2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/camp-humphreys-courts-martial-2025/)
- [A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2022](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/fort-benning-courts-martial-2022/)
- [A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2023](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/fort-benning-courts-martial-2023/)
- [A Year of Courts-Martial at Fort Benning: 2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/fort-benning-courts-martial-2025/)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members)

Next: [Joint Base Lewis-McChord in 2022: 47 Courts-Martial, Year in Review](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/joint-base-lewis-mcchord-courts-martial-2022/) →

## Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Joint Base Lewis-McChord, 2021

- [Larry A. Babin Jr.](https://www.bodiesburied.com/judge-larry-a-babin-jr/)
- [Jessica Conn](https://www.bodiesburied.com/judge-jessica-conn/)
- [Craig S. Denney](https://www.bodiesburied.com/judge-craig-s-denney/)
- [Joseph R. Distaso](https://www.bodiesburied.com/judge-joseph-r-distaso/)
- [Matthew S. Fitzgerald](https://www.bodiesburied.com/judge-matthew-s-fitzgerald/)
- [Joseph A. Keeler](https://www.bodiesburied.com/judge-joseph-a-keeler/)
- [Michael E. Korte](https://www.bodiesburied.com/judge-michael-e-korte/)
- [Scott A. Oravec](https://www.bodiesburied.com/judge-scott-a-oravec/)

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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/judges/) 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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.