Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay and Jacksonville, Florida, 2019–2023: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
Of 11 contested cases that reached a verdict at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay from 2019–2023, none ended in a full acquittal (0 of 11). At Jacksonville, Florida, 16 of 31 did (52%).
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Trends › By Installation › Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay › vs. Jacksonville, Florida
Short answer: Of 11 contested cases that reached a verdict at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay from 2019–2023, none ended in a full acquittal (0 of 11). At Jacksonville, Florida, 16 of 31 did (52%). The median confinement was 11 months at Kaneohe Bay and 4 months at Jacksonville, across 78 and 77 cases.
No Full Acquittals in Contested Kaneohe Bay Cases
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, as a not-guilty plea or a mixed plea. At Kaneohe Bay, 0 of 11 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. 8 of the 11 ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another.
At Jacksonville, 16 of 31 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (52%). The two installations tried a similar number of cases in these years, so the comparison uses shares, not counts.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay | 78 | 26% | 0 of 11 | 11 months | 68% |
| Jacksonville, Florida | 77 | 41% | 16 of 31 | 4 months | 40% |
Fewer Cases Were Contested
The plea is listed in 42 of the 78 Kaneohe Bay records. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea and forum, so plea counts here use only the records that list one. Of those 42, 31 were guilty pleas and 11 were contested.
The contested share was 26% at Kaneohe Bay, lower than the 41% at Jacksonville. Contested shares were 33% in general courts-martial and 21% in special courts-martial. Cases charging Article 128, assault, ended in a guilty plea 82% of the time (14 of 17), the most among the top charges. Cases charging Article 92 ended in a guilty plea 70% of the time (7 of 10). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or contested the case.
Sentences Were Longer at Kaneohe Bay
68 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 61 of those sentences included confinement (90%). The median confinement was 11 months, compared with 4 months at Jacksonville. A quarter of the sentences were 1.2 years or longer.
Sentences of more than one year were 19 of 68 convictions (28%), compared with 20% at Jacksonville. Sentences under 6 months were less common at Kaneohe Bay: 34% of convictions, compared with 44%. No confinement was 10% at Kaneohe Bay and 16% at Jacksonville.
These figures are adjudged sentences. They show what the court announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Jacksonville, Florida cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 7 | 10% | 16% |
| Under 6 months | 23 | 34% | 44% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 19 | 28% | 20% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 13 | 19% | 11% |
| 5 years or more | 6 | 9% | 8% |
Discharges for Convicted Enlisted Members
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. 44 of 65 convicted enlisted members at Kaneohe Bay received one (68%). At Jacksonville the share was 40%. 14 of the 44 Kaneohe Bay discharges were dishonorable.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. Administrative separations are not part of these records.
Charges in the Kaneohe Bay Cases
The charge lists cover 68 of the 78 cases. A case with three articles counts under all three. Article 128, assault, was the most common charge, in 27 cases (40%), compared with 43% at Jacksonville.
Article 92, failure to obey an order or regulation, appeared in 31% of Kaneohe Bay cases and 12% of Jacksonville cases. Article 107, false official statements, appeared in 13% here and 4% there. Article 112a, the drug article, appeared in 22% here and 13% at Jacksonville. Article 121, larceny, was less common at Kaneohe Bay: 7% of cases, compared with 13%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Jacksonville, Florida cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 27 | 40% | 43% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 21 | 31% | 12% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 15 | 22% | 13% |
| Art. 134 General article | 12 | 18% | 13% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 11 | 16% | 18% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 9 | 13% | 4% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 8 | 12% | 13% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 8 | 12% | 13% |
Conviction Rates for the Top Charges
Article 128 ended in a conviction on that article in 27 of 27 cases (100%). Article 112a did so in 15 of 15 (100%), and Article 134 in 12 of 12 (100%). Article 92 ended in a conviction on that article in 20 of 21 cases (95%).
When the conviction included Article 134, the median confinement was 1.2 years. It was 11 months for Article 112a, 10 months for Article 92, and 7 months for Article 128. A case can include several of these articles, so the rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 27 | 27 (100%) | 7 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 21 | 20 (95%) | 10 months |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 15 | 15 (100%) | 11 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 12 | 12 (100%) | 1.2 years |
Court Level and Rank
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. Kaneohe Bay had 35 general and 43 special courts-martial. The general share was 45%, compared with 47% at Jacksonville.
The median confinement was 1.6 years in the general courts-martial and 3 months in the special courts-martial. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement.
Among the accused with rank recorded, 52 were junior enlisted members and 13 were NCOs. No officers appear. The Kaneohe Bay group was more junior than the Jacksonville group.
Cases by Year
The 78 cases were tried from July 2019 through December 2023. There were 8 in 2019, 20 in 2020, 22 in 2021, 16 in 2022, and 12 in 2023.
What the Records Cannot Show
The records list trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the terms of plea agreements. Cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation do not appear.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay (78) and Jacksonville, Florida (77) with trial dates in 2019–2023. Each figure for Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay is set beside the same figure for Jacksonville, Florida.
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)
- Jacksonville, Florida: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Bremerton, Washington vs. Camp Pendleton, California: Two Navy-Marine Corps Installations Side by Side, 2013–2018
- Bremerton, Washington vs. Okinawa, Japan: Two Navy-Marine Corps Installations Side by Side, 2019–2023
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Norfolk, Virginia, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Camp Pendleton, California and San Diego, California, 2024–2026: How Their Courts-Martial Compare
- Comparing Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Mayport, Florida: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2013–2018
- Comparing Camp Pendleton, California and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Comparing Norfolk, Virginia and San Diego, California: Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2019–2023
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, 2019–2023
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.