What Was Tried at Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, 2024–2026? 21 Courts-Martial

Trends › By Installation › Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston › 2024–2026

Based on 21 cases · 2024–2026 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

20 of 21 Cases Ended in a Guilty Plea

Of the 21 cases, 20 ended in guilty pleas and 1 was contested, meaning the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share, 5%, compares with 21% across all Army cases in those years.

Army records note whether a guilty plea came with a plea agreement, though not what it said. Of the 20 guilty pleas, 19 are recorded with one and 1 has no entry.

A military judge alone decided guilt in 20 cases, and 1 officer panel heard the other case. Members heard 5% of cases here and 13% across the Army. The accused usually chooses the forum, and most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas.

Most Convictions Did Not Include a Punitive Discharge

A punitive discharge was part of 41% of enlisted convictions here: 6 bad-conduct discharges and 1 dishonorable discharge. Across the Army the share was 73%.

Officers are counted separately. Of 4 convicted officers or warrant officers, 1 was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not track.

Large Changes From 2021–2023

The same installation had 22 cases in 2021–2023, about 7 a year. It has had about 10 a year since, counting full years. The way cases ended changed more than the number of cases. The contested share went from 41% to 5%, and punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 92% to 41%.

General courts-martial went from 86% of cases to 45%. The median confinement went from 3 months to 4 months. The share of convictions with confinement went from 56% to 62%. In small groups a few cases can change a percentage, so these changes show direction, not precision.

Most Sentences Were Short

Confinement was part of 62% of the 21 convictions. Here the median confinement was 4 months; in the rest of the Army it was 6 months. A quarter of the sentences here were 9 months or longer.

38% of convictions included no confinement (15% across the Army). Sentences longer than one year were less common: 3 of 21 convictions (14%), compared with 30%. Sentences of 5 years or more were 10% of convictions here and 9% across the Army.

These are adjudged sentences, imposed at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.

A Senior Group, Mostly at Special Courts-Martial

By rank, the accused were 3 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 14 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 4 officers or warrant officers. Across the Army, junior enlisted members made up 53% of the accused.

The records list 9 general and 11 special courts-martial, and the court level is not listed for 1 case. General courts-martial were 45% of the cases with a court level listed here and 69% across the Army. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge, while a general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence.

Domestic Violence and Assault Were the Most Common Charges

Charge lists exist for 20 of the 21 cases, and one case can appear under several articles. Article 128b (domestic violence) was charged in 30% here (25% across the Army). Article 128 (assault) was charged in 25% (20%).

Article 134 (the general article) was less common: 15% here (21% across the Army). Article 131b (obstructing justice) was charged in 10% (5%).

Compared With Fort Leavenworth and Fort Sill

Fort Leavenworth and Fort Sill tried a similar number of Army cases in the same years. Cases were contested more often at both: 35% and 46%. Both had higher punitive discharge shares: 81% and 65%. Fort Leavenworth had a median confinement of 1.2 years, and Fort Sill had 5 months.

The cases here were tried from January 2024 through May 2026: 10 in 2024, 9 in 2025, and 2 in 2026, a partial year. They make up 2% of the 1,252 Army courts-martial in the period.

Rule Changes and Missing Context

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. These rule changes came in the same period as the changes above. They depend on offense dates, which the records do not give, so the records cannot show whether one caused the other.

The records also do not show the evidence, the plea terms, and cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

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.