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# Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, August 2020: The Month in Review
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial-august-2020/
- Published: 2026-10-28T08:14:10.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T08:10:00.000Z
- Description: Navy and Marine Corps records show 25 courts-martial in August 2020. Assault under Article 128 was charged in 43% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 36% for both services across 2020. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months for the year.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Navy-Marine Corps

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-year/) › August 2020

**Short answer:** Navy and Marine Corps records show 25 courts-martial in August 2020\. Assault under Article 128 was charged in 43% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 36% for both services across 2020\. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 6 months for the year.

Based on 25 cases · August 2020 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

## Nearly Every Conviction Included Confinement

Of the 25 cases, 22 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 21 of those sentences included confinement (95%). Only 1 conviction (5%) included no confinement, compared with 15% for the Navy and Marine Corps in 2020.

The median confinement was 5 months. Terms under 6 months made up 11 convictions (50%), compared with 36% for the year. A quarter of the terms were 1.5 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.

## Which Cases Had Longer Terms

Terms of more than one year were adjudged in 6 of the 22 convictions (27%), about the same as the 26% for 2020\. Of those, 4 were between 1 and 5 years. The other 2 were 5 years or more (9%, compared with 6% for the year).

Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. At the 11 general courts-martial, 8 of 9 convictions included confinement, and the median was 2.3 years. At the 14 special courts-martial, 100% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 3 months.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2020 |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| No confinement                  | 1           | 5%         | 15%                                              |
| Under 6 months                  | 11          | 50%        | 36%                                              |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 4           | 18%        | 23%                                              |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4           | 18%        | 20%                                              |
| 5 years or more                 | 2           | 9%         | 6%                                               |

## Assault Was the Most Common Charge

Charges are listed for 23 of the 25 cases, and one case can count under several articles. Assault appeared in 10 cases (43%, compared with 36% for the year). No other article appeared in more than 4 cases. Several appeared in 4 cases each (17%): Article 92 orders violations, Article 134 (the general article), Article 80 attempts, Article 107 false official statements, and Article 120 rape and sexual assault.

Some of those were charged more often than in the year as a whole, such as Article 80 (11% for the year) and Article 107 (12% for the year). Article 82 soliciting appeared in 3 cases (13%), compared with 4% across 2020, and Article 121 larceny in 3 (13%), compared with 8%.

| UCMJ Article                                                                                                                               | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2020 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ----- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| [Art. 128](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-128/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Assault                           | 10    | 43%        | 36%                                              |
| [Art. 92](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-92/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Failure to obey order or regulation | 4     | 17%        | 18%                                              |
| [Art. 134](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-134/?ref=bodiesburied.com) General article                   | 4     | 17%        | 13%                                              |
| [Art. 80](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-80/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Attempts                            | 4     | 17%        | 11%                                              |
| [Art. 107](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-107/?ref=bodiesburied.com) False official statements         | 4     | 17%        | 12%                                              |
| [Art. 120](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/ucmj/article-120-sexual-assault/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Rape and sexual assault                    | 4     | 17%        | 16%                                              |
| [Art. 121](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-121/?ref=bodiesburied.com) Larceny                           | 3     | 13%        | 8%                                               |
| Art. 82 Soliciting                                                                                                                         | 3     | 13%        | 4%                                               |

## Pleas Recorded in 12 of 25 Cases

Just 12 of the 25 records list the plea: 8 guilty pleas and 4 contested cases. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share was 33%, compared with 30% for both services across 2020.

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often leave the plea out, so these counts reflect only part of the month. Of the contested cases that reached a verdict, 2 of 4 ended in a full acquittal, the same as the 2 of 4 in August 2019.

## Punitive Discharges

Of 20 convicted enlisted members, 13 received a punitive discharge (65%): 11 bad-conduct and 2 dishonorable. For the year, the share was 62%. A punitive discharge is the bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge an enlisted member can receive at trial; for officers, the counterpart is a dismissal, but no convicted officers appear in this month's records. A bad-conduct discharge can come from either court level, but a dishonorable discharge requires a general court-martial.

A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation later.

## Compared With August 2019

The number of cases went from 34 in August 2019 to 25\. The median confinement went from 7 months to 5 months. The share of convictions with any confinement rose from 83% to 95%. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members rose from 54% to 65%. The general court-martial share went from 32% to 44%.

The contested share moved from 24% to 33%. In groups this small, a few cases can change a percentage, so these changes show direction, not exact size.

|                                     | August 2019 | August 2020 |
| ----------------------------------- | ----------- | ----------- |
| Cases                               | 34          | 25          |
| Contested (of pleas recorded)       | 24%         | 33%         |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 2 of 4      | 2 of 4      |
| Convictions with confinement        | 83%         | 95%         |
| Median confinement                  | 7 months    | 5 months    |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted)       | 54%         | 65%         |
| General courts-martial              | 32%         | 44%         |

## Ranks and Installations

Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 68% of the accused with rank recorded, and NCOs made up 32%. No officers were among them. Across both services in 2020, junior enlisted members were 64%. General courts-martial made up 44% of the cases (11 of 25), compared with 41% for the year.

Bremerton, Washington, had 5 trials and Camp Pendleton, California, had 4\. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, San Diego, California, and Quantico, Virginia, had 2 each. Together they account for 60% of the 25 cases.

## Outside the Courtroom Record

These records cover only cases that reached a court-martial. Nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, and cases closed with no action are not included, and the records do not describe the evidence or any plea terms. They also give trial dates rather than offense dates, so a case tried in August 2020 may involve conduct from well before that month.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/).

### How We Counted

Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial with a trial date in August 2020 (25 cases), compared with the whole year.

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

- [Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [By Year](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-year/) (hub)
- [What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in July 2020](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial-july-2020/) (previous / next)
- [What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in September 2020](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial-september-2020/) (previous / next)
- [The Navy-Marine Corps Court-Martial Year, 2020](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial-2020-year-in-review/) (the whole year)
- [April 2018 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 43 Cases](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial-april-2018/)
- [April 2020 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 18 Cases](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial-april-2020/)
- [August 2017 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 37 Cases](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial-august-2017/)
- [August 2019 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 34 Cases](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial-august-2019/)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members)

← Previous: [What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in July 2020](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial-july-2020/)Next: [What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in September 2020](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial-september-2020/) →

**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.