Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, February 2017: The Month in Review
Navy and Marine Corps records show 31 courts-martial in February 2017. All 27 convictions included confinement. Article 134 (the general article) appeared in 26% of cases, compared with 13% for all of 2017.
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Trends › By Year › February 2017
Short answer: Navy and Marine Corps records show 31 courts-martial in February 2017. All 27 convictions included confinement. Article 134 (the general article) appeared in 26% of cases, compared with 13% for all of 2017. Only 12% of cases with a recorded plea were contested, compared with 26% for the year.
Confinement in Every Conviction
Of the 31 cases, 27 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and all 27 sentences included confinement. Across the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2017, 10% of convictions included no confinement. In February, the count was 0.
The median confinement was 7 months, compared with 8 months for the year. Long sentences were more common than in the year. Sentences of more than one year were adjudged in 11 of 27 convictions (41%), compared with 31% for 2017. Of those, 5 convictions (19%) were 5 years or more, compared with 10%.
These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge of conviction in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 0 | 0% | 10% |
| Under 6 months | 11 | 41% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 5 | 19% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 6 | 22% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 5 | 19% | 10% |
More General Article Charges Than the Year
All 31 cases have charge lists, and each article counts once per case. Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, at 35%, about the same as its 37% share for the year. Article 112a (wrongful use or possession of controlled substances) was second, at 32%, compared with 31%.
The largest difference from the year was Article 134, the general article, at 26% of cases. Across 2017 its share was only 13%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was also more common, at 23% compared with 19%, and Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) appeared in 13%, compared with 10%.
Article 80 (attempts), Article 121 (larceny), and Article 107 (false official statements) each appeared in 10% of cases, about the same as their yearly shares.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2017 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 11 | 35% | 37% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 10 | 32% | 31% |
| Art. 134 General article | 8 | 26% | 13% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 7 | 23% | 19% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 4 | 13% | 10% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 3 | 10% | 10% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 3 | 10% | 9% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 3 | 10% | 11% |
Convictions Charge by Charge
All 8 cases charging Article 134 ended in a conviction on that article, and the median confinement was 3.4 years. In 9 of 11 assault cases (82%), the accused was convicted under Article 128, and the median confinement was 4 years.
In 8 of 10 drug cases (80%), the accused was convicted under Article 112a, and the median was 7 months. These rows overlap, because a single case can include 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 | 11 | 9 (82%) | 4 years |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 10 | 8 (80%) | 7 months |
| Art. 134 General article | 8 | 8 (8 of 8) | 3.4 years |
Few Contested Cases
Only 16 of the 31 records list a plea, a common gap in Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020. Among those 16, 14 accused pleaded guilty, and 2 pleaded not guilty to at least one charge, which makes a case contested.
The contested share was 12%, compared with 26% for both services across 2017. In the records that list a plea, February cases were contested less often than cases in the year overall.
More Punitive Discharges Than the Year
For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. This month, 78% of convicted enlisted members received one. Across 2017 the share was 68%.
There were 9 dishonorable discharges and 12 bad-conduct discharges. A dishonorable discharge can come only from a general court-martial. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation, which these records do not track.
General and Special Courts
The month had 13 general courts-martial and 18 special courts-martial. The general court-martial share was 42%, about the same as 44% for the year.
Sentences differed by level. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, and the median confinement at that level was 4.3 years. A special court-martial is capped at one year of confinement, and the median at that level was 4 months. Only the general level can impose a dishonorable discharge, so all 9 of the month's dishonorable discharges came from the 13 general cases.
Rank and Location
Among the accused with rank recorded, 20 were junior enlisted, 9 were NCOs, and 0 were officers. That mix was about the same as both services as a whole in 2017.
San Diego, California, had the most cases, with 5. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina; Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Twentynine Palms, California; and Okinawa, Japan, had 3 each. These five account for 55% of the month's cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
Before the 2019 Law Change
These trials took place before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. Fixed panel sizes, judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months without a punitive discharge, and written plea agreements all came later and did not apply here.
The records cover only cases that reached a courtroom. They do not include nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or matters closed without action. They do not describe the evidence or plea terms.
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 February 2017 (31 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)
- What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in January 2017 (previous / next)
- March 2017 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 50 Cases (previous / next)
- The Navy-Marine Corps Court-Martial Year, 2017 (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.