> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Navy-Marine Corps Assault Cases Against Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4): Outcomes and Sentences - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-128-junior-enlisted/ - Published: 2026-10-28T08:18:31.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-03T01:46:22.000Z - Description: Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) make up the largest share of Navy and Marine Corps assault courts-martial under Article 128: 626 cases from 2017–2025. 34% of their cases were contested, compared with 41% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128 cases. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 128, Navy-Marine Corps [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 128](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-128-courts-martial/) › Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4) **Short answer:** Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) make up the largest share of Navy and Marine Corps assault courts-martial under Article 128: 626 cases from 2017–2025\. 34% of their cases were contested, compared with 41% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128 cases. 56 of 135 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (41%), compared with 46% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128 cases. Based on 626 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026 ## The Largest Group of Assault Cases Junior enlisted members made up 64% of all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128 cases: 626 cases. The cases were tried from January 2017 to December 2025. The yearly count went down over the period: 117 in 2017, 91 in 2018, 86 in 2019, 84 in 2020, 88 in 2021, 42 in 2022, 48 in 2023, 33 in 2024, and 37 in 2025\. The records do not show the reason for that decline. ## Guilty Pleas and Contested Cases Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, and 394 of 626 records list one. Of those, 259 were guilty pleas and 135 were contested, with the accused pleading not guilty to at least one charge. That makes 34% contested, compared with 41% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128 cases. Of the 135 contested cases that reached a verdict, 56 ended in a full acquittal (41%) and 22 in a partial acquittal (16%). A partial acquittal means not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. The full-acquittal rate was lower than the 46% for all Article 128 cases. ## Sentences After Conviction Of the 626 cases, 569 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 509 of those sentences included confinement (89%). The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the 6 months for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128 cases. A quarter of terms were 1.5 years or longer, and 1 was a life sentence. 150 of 569 convictions (26%) included confinement longer than one year, about the same as the 27% for all Article 128 cases. 11% had no confinement, compared with 14%. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. They cover every charge in the case. | Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128 cases | | ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | -------------------------------------------------- | | No confinement | 60 | 11% | 14% | | Under 6 months | 201 | 35% | 34% | | 6 months to 1 year | 158 | 28% | 25% | | More than 1 year, under 5 years | 103 | 18% | 18% | | 5 years or more | 47 | 8% | 9% | ## Discharges Of 569 convicted enlisted members, 369 received a punitive discharge: 251 bad-conduct discharges and 118 dishonorable discharges. For all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128 cases, 61% of convicted enlisted members received one. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation later. These records do not track separations. ## Sexual Assault Charges Appeared Often Article 128 was the only charge in 221 of the 626 cases, compared with 345 of 1036 for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128 cases. The most common other charge was Article 120 (sexual assault), in 169 cases. Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 87, Article 134 (general article) in 55, Article 112a (drug) in 46, and Article 80 (attempt) in 42. The sentence covers the whole case. The records do not show whether an assault charge and a sexual assault charge describe the same incident. ## General Versus Special Courts-Martial General courts-martial can impose any lawful sentence. Special courts-martial cap confinement at one year and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge. Of these cases, 291 were general courts-martial (46%), compared with 52% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128 cases. The other 335 were special courts-martial. At general courts-martial, the median confinement was 2 years and 49% of cases were contested. At special courts-martial, the median was 4 months and 22% were contested. These records do not reliably show whether a judge or members decided guilt, so this post does not report it. ## Where the Cases Were Heard Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had 106 cases, Camp Pendleton, California had 104, Norfolk, Virginia had 58, San Diego, California had 54, and Okinawa, Japan had 46\. Together they account for 59% of the 626\. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean a base has a problem with assault. ## Law Changes and Their Limits Here The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019\. It brought fixed panel sizes, judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and written plea agreements. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. Article 128 assault is not itself a covered offense, though special trial counsel who take a covered offense can also take related charges, such as an assault tied to a domestic violence allegation. The records list trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot show which rules applied to each case. They also omit the evidence, plea terms, and assaults resolved outside a court-martial. For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see [Article 128 on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-128/?ref=bodiesburied.com). Dates and sources for the law changes: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/). ### How We Counted Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial tried 2017–2025 that charged junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) under Article 128 (626 cases), compared with every Navy and Marine Corps Article 128 case. Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com. ## Related Analysis - [Article 128 (Assault): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-128-courts-martial/) (hub) - [Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial/) (hub) - [Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4) Charged Under Article 128 in the Army](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-128-junior-enlisted/) - [What Happens to Army NCOs (E-5 to E-9) Facing Assault Charges?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-128-ncos/) - [What Happens to Army Officers Facing Assault Charges?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-128-officers/) - [Army Article 128 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-128-trend-2021-2025/) - [Fewer or More? Assault Charges at Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-128-trend-2016-2025/) - [Article 128 explained on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-128/?ref=bodiesburied.com) - [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members) **Compare: federal court.** [Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Article 128 Courts-Martial, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-aggravated-assault-vs-article-128/) **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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.