Mayport, Florida Before and After 2019: How Its Courts-Martial Changed

Trends › By Installation › Mayport, Florida › Before and after 2019

Based on 69 cases · 2019–2023 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

48% of Cases Were Contested

Contested cases were more common at Mayport than in most of the Navy and Marine Corps. Of the 69 cases, 36 were guilty pleas and 33 were contested, meaning the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 48%. It was 31% across the whole Navy and Marine Corps and 32% at Mayport in 2013–2018.

Of the 33 contested cases, 11 ended in a full acquittal (33%). That is higher than the 29% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Another 5 (15%) ended in a partial acquittal, with a not-guilty finding on at least one charge or specification and a guilty finding on another.

Results Differed by Charge

Article 128 (assault) was charged in 19 cases. Only 11 of them (58%) ended in a conviction on that article. The median confinement for those convictions was 7 months. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) ended in a conviction on that article in 4 of 8 cases, with a median confinement of 1.5 years.

Other charges almost always ended in a conviction. Article 80 (attempts) ended in a conviction in 11 of 11 cases, with a median confinement of 11 months. Article 134, the general article, ended in a conviction in 18 of 19, with a median of 1.5 years. A case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so the rows overlap.

Guilty pleas also differed by charge. Cases charging Article 134 ended in a guilty plea 58% of the time (11 of 19), the most among the top charges. Cases charging Article 128 ended in a guilty plea only 26% of the time (5 of 19). The records do not show why an accused pleaded guilty or contested the charges.

2013–2018 Compared With 2019–2023

The 2013–2018 period had 97 cases over 6 years, about 16 a year. The later period had about 14 a year, counting full years only. The median confinement was 6 months in both periods. Convictions with any confinement went from 90% to 84%.

Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 67% to 52%. General courts-martial went from 48% of cases to 59%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 15 of 30 to 11 of 33. In groups this size, a few cases can change these figures, so they show direction, not precision.

What Was Charged

Charge lists cover 67 of the 69 cases, and each article is counted once per case. Article 134 appeared in 28% of cases, compared with 18% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 80 appeared in 16%, compared with 9%. Article 109 (property other than military; waste, spoilage, or destruction) appeared in 4%, compared with 1%.

Drug and orders charges were less common. Article 112a (wrongful use or possession of controlled substances) appeared in 12% of cases, compared with 25%. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) appeared in 10%, compared with 18%. Article 128 appeared in 28%, about the same as the 31% service-wide.

Sentences After Conviction

Of 58 convictions, 49 included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 1.5 years or longer.

Sentences longer than one year were 16 of 58 convictions (28%), compared with 24% service-wide. Most of those were between 1 and 5 years. Only 2 (3%) were 5 years or more. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in the case.

Discharges and Dismissals

A punitive discharge followed 52% of enlisted convictions: 19 bad-conduct and 10 dishonorable discharges. Across the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps, the share was 63%. There were 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 1 was sentenced to dismissal. A sentence with no punitive discharge can still be followed by an administrative separation, which is not in these records.

Court Level and Rank

A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial cannot impose more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge.

Mayport had 41 general courts-martial (59% of cases). In those, 94% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 1 year. Mayport also had 28 special courts-martial. In those, 70% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 2 months.

The accused were 39 junior enlisted members, 27 NCOs, and 2 officers. That group is more senior than the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole.

Quantico and Jacksonville

Quantico, Virginia (70 cases) and Jacksonville, Florida (77 cases) tried a similar number of cases in these years. Mayport had the highest contested share of the 3: 48%, compared with 34% and 41%. Mayport had 11 full acquittals in 33 contested cases, compared with 0 of 13 at Quantico and 16 of 31 at Jacksonville. Mayport's punitive discharge share, 52%, was between Jacksonville's 40% and Quantico's 60%.

Year by Year, and the Limits of the Records

The cases were tried between February 2019 and December 2023: 8 in 2019, 17 in 2020, 24 in 2021, 11 in 2022, and 9 in 2023. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea and forum, so plea counts use only records that list them. The records also do not include offense dates, evidence, plea terms, or conduct 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.