Kaiserslautern (Europe), 2020–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 27 Cases

Trends › By Installation › Kaiserslautern (Europe) › 2020–2023

Based on 27 cases · 2020–2023 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Most Contested Cases Ended in Full Acquittal

A full acquittal means not guilty on every charge. At Kaiserslautern, 8 of 13 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. 4 more ended in a partial acquittal, meaning not guilty of at least one charge but guilty of another. The full-acquittal rate, 62%, is higher than the 37% across the Army.

Army results list findings charge by charge, which is why partial acquittals are common in Army data. With only 13 decided contested cases, a single verdict changes the rate by several points, so the figure shows direction, not precision.

More Than Half of Cases Were Contested

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Here 14 cases were not-guilty or mixed pleas and 13 were guilty pleas, a contested share of 52%, compared with 35% across the Army.

Of the 13 guilty pleas, 11 are recorded with a plea agreement and 2 have no entry. Army records note that an agreement existed but not its terms.

Sexual Assault and the General Article

Charge lists cover 25 of the 27 cases, and a case with several articles counts under each. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was charged in 44% of cases here, compared with 25% in all Army cases in those years. Article 134 (the general article) was charged in 32%, compared with 22%.

Other charges were closer to the Army shares. Article 128 (assault) was charged in 28% of cases, compared with 31% across the Army. Article 128b (domestic violence) was charged in 12%, compared with 13%. Larceny under Article 121 was charged in 12%, compared with 7%.

What Happened to the Sexual Assault Charges?

Of 11 cases charging Article 120, 4 ended in a conviction on that article (36%). The median confinement after those convictions was 1.3 years. Of 8 cases charging Article 134, 5 ended in a conviction on it, with a median confinement of 2 months.

A case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so these counts overlap with the case-level verdicts above.

Most Confinement Was Short

Confinement was part of 78% of the 18 convictions. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 6 months for all Army cases in those years. A quarter of the sentences were 6 months or longer.

These are adjudged sentences, as announced at trial and before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers every charge the accused was convicted of, so a case with several convictions produces one combined result.

Punitive Discharges and Officers

For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. A punitive discharge was part of 67% of enlisted convictions here: 6 bad-conduct and 4 dishonorable discharges. In the rest of the Army the share was 73%.

The records list 3 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 1 was dismissed. Dismissal is the officer form of a punitive discharge. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Members Heard More Cases Than Across the Army

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. At Kaiserslautern, a judge alone heard 17 cases, enlisted panels 8, and officer panels 2. Members heard 37% of cases, compared with 21% across the Army.

Among contested cases, members heard 10 of 14 (71%). Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so an installation with more contested cases usually has more panels.

Rank and Court Level

The accused included 12 junior enlisted members, 11 NCOs, and 4 officers. This group was more senior than the Army as a whole. General courts-martial, which can impose any lawful sentence including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge, made up 20 of the 24 cases with a court level listed (83%), higher than the 75% across the Army. The court level is not listed for 3 cases. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Compared With Fort Leonard Wood and Fort Huachuca

Fort Leonard Wood (27 cases) and Fort Huachuca (23) tried a similar number of Army cases in these years. Kaiserslautern had the highest contested share: 52%, compared with 22% and 26%. It had the most full acquittals: 8 of 13, compared with 2 of 6 and 0 of 6.

The median confinement was 3 months here and 6 months at both other installations. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members were 67% at Kaiserslautern, 83% at Fort Leonard Wood, and 52% at Fort Huachuca.

Timing and What Is Missing

The records show 2 cases in 2020, 13 in 2021, 5 in 2022, and 7 in 2023, or 2% of the 1,581 Army courts-martial in those years. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021. The records give trial dates rather than offense dates, and they do not show the evidence, plea terms, or anything handled outside a court-martial.

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.