NCOs (E-5 to E-9) Charged Under Article 128b in the Navy-Marine Corps

Trends › By Offense › Article 128b › NCOs (E-5 to E-9)

Based on 50 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

NCOs Contested More Often

Of the 50 cases, 22 were contested and 28 ended in guilty pleas. A contested case is one with a not-guilty plea to at least one charge, including a mixed plea. The contested share was 44%, higher than the 33% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases.

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea. The first case here was tried in November 2020, and all 50 cases list a plea.

Partial Acquittals Were More Common Than Full Acquittals

Of the 22 contested cases that reached a verdict, 2 ended in a full acquittal. That is a 9% full-acquittal rate, lower than the 15% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases.

Another 11 cases were partial acquittals. In a partial acquittal, the court finds the accused not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another. Sentencing then follows on the remaining guilty findings.

Punitive Discharges Were Less Common Than in the Broader Group

Of 48 convicted NCOs, 25 received a punitive discharge: 19 bad-conduct discharges and 6 dishonorable discharges. That is 52%, lower than the 61% for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases.

A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. Administrative separation happens outside the court-martial, and these records do not track it.

How Much Confinement?

Of the 48 sentences, 37 included confinement (77%). The median confinement was 5 months, about the same as the 6 months for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 1 year or longer.

No confinement was imposed in 11 convictions (23%), compared with 17% in the broader group. Sentences under 6 months made up 42% here and 41% overall. Sentences from 6 months to 1 year made up 17%, compared with 25%.

Confinement longer than one year was imposed in 9 of 48 convictions (19%), about the same as the 16% in the comparison group. Every figure is an adjudged sentence covering all charges in the case, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

General and Special Courts-Martial

Of the 50 cases, 20 were general courts-martial (40%). The share for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases was 36%. The other 30 were special courts-martial. A special court-martial is limited to one year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

The median confinement was 1 year at general courts-martial and 3 months at special courts-martial. The contested share was 55% at general courts-martial and 37% at special courts-martial.

Most Cases Were Tried in 2023 and 2024

Article 128b applies only to offenses on or after January 1, 2019. The yearly count was 0 in 2017, 2018, and 2019. It was 1 in 2020, 2 in 2021, and 1 in 2022.

The count was 11 in 2023, 25 in 2024, and 10 in 2025. The last case was tried in October 2025. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute domestic violence, a covered offense. The records cannot show whether that change affected the count. The records also do not include offense dates, so 2024 and 2025 trials include cases under both the old and new rules.

Other Charges in the Same Case

Article 128b was the only charge in 27 of the 50 cases. Across the service, Article 128b was the only charge in 68 of 147 Article 128b cases. When other articles were charged, Article 90 (disobeying an officer), Article 134 (general article), and Article 128 (assault) each appeared in 6 cases. Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 5, and Article 119b (child endangerment, numbered since 2019) in 3.

Rank and Installations

Across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 128b cases, 62% of the accused were junior enlisted. Every accused in this group was an NCO, so it is a more senior part of the cases.

Quantico, Virginia and Camp Pendleton, California had 6 cases each. Jacksonville, Florida, Norfolk, Virginia, and Okinawa, Japan had 5 each. Together they account for 54% of the 50 cases. No single installation had a large share. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so the counts do not single out any base.

What the Records Do Not Show

Trial records list the charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not include the evidence, the plea terms, or any domestic violence allegation resolved without a court-martial, such as through nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 128b on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: 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.