December 2018 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 27 Cases
The Navy and Marine Corps tried 27 courts-martial in December 2018, the last month before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 42% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 26% for both services across 2018.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › December 2018
Short answer: The Navy and Marine Corps tried 27 courts-martial in December 2018, the last month before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect. Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 42% of the cases with charges listed, compared with 26% for both services across 2018. The median confinement was 5 months, compared with 7 months for the year.
Drug Charges Were Most Common
Charges are listed for 26 of the 27 cases, and a single case can count under several articles. Article 112a, wrongful use or possession of controlled substances, appeared in 11 cases (42%, compared with 26% for the Navy and Marine Corps in 2018). Article 92 orders violations were also more common than usual, in 5 cases (19%) compared with 13%.
Assault charges were less common than usual: Article 128 appeared in 6 cases (23%), compared with 34% for the year. Article 120 rape and sexual assault appeared in 5 (19%, compared with 16%), and Article 121 larceny in 4 (15%, compared with 11%). Article 109, covering property other than military and waste, spoilage, or destruction, appeared in 2 cases (8%, compared with 2%).
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 11 | 42% | 26% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 6 | 23% | 34% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 5 | 19% | 16% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 5 | 19% | 13% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 4 | 15% | 11% |
| Art. 81 Conspiracy | 3 | 12% | 9% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 2 | 8% | 11% |
| Art. 109 Property other than military; waste, spoilage, destruction | 2 | 8% | 2% |
Shorter Sentences Than the Year
Of the 27 cases, 23 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 20 of those sentences included confinement (87%). The median term was 5 months, shorter than the 7 months for both services in 2018. A quarter of the terms were 1.5 years or longer.
Sentences under 6 months made up 48% of convictions, compared with 32% for the year. Terms over one year were adjudged in 5 of 23 convictions (22%), compared with 30%. Of those, 3 were between 1 and 5 years, and 2 were 5 years or more. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 3 | 13% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 11 | 48% | 32% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 4 | 17% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 3 | 13% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 2 | 9% | 9% |
Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial
Only 9 of the 27 cases were general courts-martial (33%, compared with 45% for the year). The other 18 were special courts-martial.
Court level limits the sentence. A special court-martial cannot adjudge more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge, though it can impose a bad-conduct discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, so every term above one year this month came from one of the 9 general courts-martial.
Discharges After Conviction
Of 22 convicted enlisted members, 15 received a punitive discharge (68%): 11 bad-conduct and 4 dishonorable. For the year, the share was 66%. The month's 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was not dismissed.
A punitive discharge means a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge for enlisted members, with dismissal as the officer equivalent. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Pleas Recorded in Few Cases
Just 10 of the 27 records list the plea: 6 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 40%, compared with 28% for the year. That share is based on very few records.
Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often leave the plea out, so these counts use only the records that include it. Of the contested cases that reached a verdict, 3 of 4 ended in a full acquittal.
December 2017 and December 2018
December 2017 had 35 cases, and December 2018 had 27. The median confinement was 5 months in both months. Convictions with confinement were 87% in both months. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members rose from 57% to 68%, and the contested share rose from 22% to 40%. The general court-martial share fell from 46% to 33%.
Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict were 3 of 4 in both months. With groups this small, a few cases can change a percentage, so the changes show direction, not precise size.
| December 2017 | December 2018 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 35 | 27 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 22% | 40% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 3 of 4 | 3 of 4 |
| Convictions with confinement | 87% | 87% |
| Median confinement | 5 months | 5 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 57% | 68% |
| General courts-martial | 46% | 33% |
Rank and Location
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 58% of the accused, NCOs made up 35%, and officers made up 8%. Across both services in 2018, junior enlisted members were 61%.
Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, had 8 trials and Norfolk, Virginia, had 4. MCAS Cherry Point, North Carolina, Camp Pendleton, California, and Twentynine Palms, California, had 2 each. Together these account for 67% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
The 2019 Law Change and the Limits of the Data
These trials came in the final month before the law changed. The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019, bringing fixed panel sizes, judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and written plea agreements. None of that applied here.
The records give trial dates rather than offense dates, and they do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. Nonjudicial punishment and administrative separations are not included.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial with a trial date in December 2018 (27 cases), compared with the whole year.
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
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, November 2018: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, January 2019: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- The Navy-Marine Corps Court-Martial Year, 2018 (the whole year)
- April 2018 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 43 Cases
- April 2020 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 18 Cases
- August 2017 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 37 Cases
- August 2019 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 34 Cases
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.