What Was Tried at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, 2017–2018? 31 Courts-Martial
The records show 31 courts-martial at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay from January 2017 through April 2018. Article 112a (drug) charges appeared in 48% of them, compared with 29% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay › 2017–2018
Short answer: The records show 31 courts-martial at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay from January 2017 through April 2018. Article 112a (drug) charges appeared in 48% of them, compared with 29% across the Navy and Marine Corps. All 29 convictions included confinement, and 79% of convicted enlisted members also received a punitive discharge, compared with 67% service-wide.
Drug Charges Were the Most Common
All 31 cases have charge lists. Each article is counted once per case, so one case can appear in several rows. Article 112a, which covers wrongful use and possession of controlled substances, was charged in 15 cases, or 48%. Across all Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years, the share was 29%.
Article 81 (conspiracy) was also charged more often here: 26%, compared with 8% service-wide. Article 92 orders violations appeared in 29% of cases, compared with 15%. Article 121 larceny appeared in 23%, compared with 10%. Article 128 (assault) was charged less often, in 29% of cases compared with 35%. Article 120 sexual assault charges were about the same as the service share, 16% compared with 18%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 15 | 48% | 29% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 29% | 35% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 9 | 29% | 15% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 8 | 26% | 8% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 7 | 23% | 10% |
| Art. 134 General article | 6 | 19% | 14% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 5 | 16% | 11% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 5 | 16% | 18% |
Conviction on the Article Charged
Almost every case with one of the most common charges ended in a conviction on that article. All 15 cases charging Article 112a ended in a conviction on it, and so did 8 of 8 conspiracy cases. Article 128 and Article 92 each had 8 convictions in 9 cases.
The median confinement for a conviction was 8 months for Article 112a and for Article 92. It was 1 year for Article 81 and 1.5 years for Article 128. A single case often included more than one of these charges, so the rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 15 | 15 (100%) | 8 months |
| Art. 128 Assault | 9 | 8 (8 of 9) | 1.5 years |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 9 | 8 (8 of 9) | 8 months |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 8 | 8 (8 of 8) | 1 year |
Confinement in Every Conviction
All 29 convictions included confinement (100%). Across the Navy and Marine Corps, 12% of convictions included no confinement. The median confinement here was 9 months, compared with 7 months service-wide. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 2 years or longer.
These are adjudged sentences, the sentences announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case, not a single offense.
How Long Were the Sentences?
Sentences longer than one year were more common here: 11 of 29 convictions (38%), compared with 30% across the service. Most of the difference is in the band from just over 1 year to under 5 years. That band held 31% of convictions here, compared with 20% service-wide. Sentences of 5 years or more were 7% here and 10% across the service.
Only a general court-martial can adjudge confinement longer than one year. Every sentence over one year here came from a general court-martial.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the whole Navy and Marine Corps docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 0 | 0% | 12% |
| Under 6 months | 8 | 28% | 34% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 10 | 34% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 9 | 31% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 2 | 7% | 10% |
Punitive Discharges
For enlisted members, the 2 punitive discharges are the bad-conduct discharge and the dishonorable discharge. One of them followed 79% of enlisted convictions: 14 bad-conduct discharges and 9 dishonorable discharges. The rate across the Navy and Marine Corps was 67%.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not guarantee continued service. An administrative separation can follow outside the court-martial process.
Court Level and Rank
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. General courts-martial were 13 of the 31 cases (42%), about the same as the 45% service share. All of their convictions included confinement, with a median of 2 years.
A special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. The 18 special courts-martial also included confinement in 100% of convictions, with a median of 6 months.
The accused were 22 junior enlisted members, 7 NCOs, and 0 officers. That group is more junior than the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole.
Pearl Harbor and Twentynine Palms
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (30 cases) and Twentynine Palms, California (30) tried a similar number of cases in these years. Pearl Harbor had a median confinement of 6 months and a punitive discharge rate of 78%. Twentynine Palms had a median of 7 months and a rate of 83%. Kaneohe Bay has no plea data for these years, so its contested share cannot be compared.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay | 31 | — | — | 9 months | 79% |
| Pearl Harbor, Hawaii | 30 | 30% | 2 of 9 | 6 months | 78% |
| Twentynine Palms, California | 30 | — | — | 7 months | 83% |
Before the 2019 Reforms
All of these trials came before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. That law set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and introduced written plea agreements. None of those changes applied to the cases here.
What the Records Leave Out
There were 24 cases in 2017 and 7 in 2018, about 3% of the 1,002 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in those years. Records from this period often omit the plea and forum. For that reason, these records cannot show how many cases were contested or how contested cases ended. The records also give trial dates, not offense dates. They leave out the evidence, the plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, and administrative separations.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial in the data tried at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay with a trial date in 2017–2018 (31 cases), compared with all 1,002 Navy and Marine Corps 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
- Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- What Was Tried at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, 2019–2023? 78 Courts-Martial (another period)
- What Was Tried at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, 2024–2026? 53 Courts-Martial (another period)
- Twentynine Palms, California Courts-Martial, 2017–2018: What 30 Cases Show (same years, similar size)
- What Was Tried at MCAS Miramar, California, 2017–2018? 26 Courts-Martial (same years, similar size)
- Bremerton, Washington Courts-Martial, 2024–2026: What 52 Cases Show
- Bremerton, Washington, 2013–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 221 Cases
- Bremerton, Washington, 2019–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 153 Cases
- 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.