MCAS Miramar, California, 2019–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 42 Cases
From 2019 through 2023, MCAS Miramar, California tried 42 courts-martial in these records, about 2% of the Navy and Marine Corps total. Orders violations under Article 92 appeared in 28% of cases, compared with 18% service-wide.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › MCAS Miramar, California › 2019–2023
Short answer: From 2019 through 2023, MCAS Miramar, California tried 42 courts-martial in these records, about 2% of the Navy and Marine Corps total. Orders violations under Article 92 appeared in 28% of cases, compared with 18% service-wide. Of convicted enlisted members, 66% received a punitive discharge, about the same as the 63% across the service.
Which Charges Appeared?
Charge lists cover 40 of the 42 cases, and each article is counted once per case. Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 30% of cases, about the same as the 31% service share. Article 92 (orders violation) was more common than elsewhere: 28%, compared with 18%. Article 107 (false official statement) was also more common: 15%, compared with 8%.
Drug cases were less common. Article 112a (drug) appeared in 12% of cases, compared with 25% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 120 sexual assault charges appeared in 8%, compared with 14%. Article 134 appeared in 18%, the same as the service figure. Article 121 larceny appeared in 10%, compared with 9%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 12 | 30% | 31% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 11 | 28% | 18% |
| Art. 134 General article | 7 | 18% | 18% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 6 | 15% | 8% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 5 | 12% | 25% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 4 | 10% | 9% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 3 | 8% | 14% |
| Art. 128b Domestic violence | 2 | 5% | 3% |
Conviction Rates on the Most Common Charges
Cases charging Article 128 ended in a conviction on that article in 11 of 12 (92%), with a median confinement of 6 months. Article 92 cases ended in a conviction on that article in 10 of 11 (91%), with a 4 months median. One case can include several articles, so a case can have a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 12 | 11 (92%) | 6 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 11 | 10 (91%) | 4 months |
Punitive Discharges for Enlisted Members
Of 38 enlisted members convicted, 25 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (66%). Of those 25, 7 were dishonorable discharges. The service-wide rate was 63%. A conviction without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
How Much Confinement?
Of 38 convictions, 28 included confinement. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the 6 months across the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 1.2 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover all charges in a case.
Sentences longer than one year were 7 of 38 convictions (18%), compared with 24% service-wide. Another 10 convictions (26%) included no confinement, compared with 17%. Sentences under 6 months were 26% here, compared with 35% service-wide. Sentences from 6 months to 1 year were 29%, compared with 24%.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Navy and Marine Corps-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 10 | 26% | 17% |
| Under 6 months | 10 | 26% | 35% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 11 | 29% | 24% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 6 | 16% | 19% |
| 5 years or more | 1 | 3% | 5% |
Pleas and Contested Cases
Only 20 of the 42 records list the plea. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often leave it out. Of those 20, 14 accused pleaded guilty and 6 entered a not-guilty or mixed plea, which makes those 6 cases contested. The contested share was 30%, about the same as the 31% across the service.
None of the 6 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (0 of 6). That is a very small number of cases, so the figure means little on its own.
Court Level and the Accused
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. General courts-martial were 38% of cases (16 of 42), and their median confinement was 1.3 years. A special court-martial is limited to one year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. The 26 special courts-martial had a median confinement of 3 months.
NCOs were 47% of the accused. Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 53%, and officers were 0%. Service-wide, junior enlisted members were 64% of the accused.
Changes From 2017–2018
Miramar had 26 cases in 2017–2018, about 13 a year. In this period, it had about 8 a year. The median confinement went from 10 months to 6 months. The share of convictions with confinement went from 89% to 74%. Punitive discharges for enlisted members went from 84% to 66%.
General courts-martial went from 69% of cases to 38%. The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019, at the start of this period. The records cannot show whether that law, or anything else, caused these changes. In small groups, a few cases can change the figures a great deal.
| 2017–2018 | 2019–2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 26 | 42 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | 30% |
| Convictions with confinement | 89% | 74% |
| Median confinement | 10 months | 6 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 84% | 66% |
| General courts-martial | 69% | 38% |
Pensacola and Washington, D.C.
Pensacola, Florida (42 cases) and Washington, D.C. (41) had a similar number of cases. Pensacola's contested share was 59%, and 14 of 24 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. Washington's contested share was 38%, and 7 of 15 ended in a full acquittal. The median confinement was 3 months at Pensacola and 8 months in Washington.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| MCAS Miramar, California | 42 | 30% | 0 of 6 | 6 months | 66% |
| Pensacola, Florida | 42 | 59% | 14 of 24 | 3 months | 56% |
| Washington, D.C. | 41 | 38% | 7 of 15 | 8 months | 59% |
Limits on These Findings
There were 14 cases in 2019, 8 in 2020, 4 in 2021, 9 in 2022, and 7 in 2023. The records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial. They also give trial dates, not offense dates.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial in the data tried at MCAS Miramar, California with a trial date in 2019–2023 (42 cases), compared with all 1,991 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
- MCAS Miramar, California: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- What Was Tried at MCAS Miramar, California, 2017–2018? 26 Courts-Martial (another period)
- What Was Tried at MCAS Miramar, California, 2024–2026? 39 Courts-Martial (another period)
- What Was Tried at Pensacola, Florida, 2019–2023? 42 Courts-Martial (same years, similar size)
- What Was Tried at Washington, D.C., 2019–2023? 41 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
- S2 E2: Hazing on Miramar (podcast, members)
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at MCAS Miramar, California, 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.