March 2020 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 29 Cases
The records show 29 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in March 2020. The median confinement was 10 months, compared with 6 months for all of 2020.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Short answer: The records show 29 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in March 2020. The median confinement was 10 months, compared with 6 months for all of 2020. Sentences of 5 years or more made up 12% of the 26 convictions, compared with 6% for the year, and child sexual abuse charges appeared in 18% of cases, compared with 9%.
A Longer Median Sentence
Of 26 convictions, 22 included confinement. The median confinement was 10 months, longer than the 6 months for the Navy and Marine Corps across 2020. A quarter of the sentences with confinement were 1.5 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in its case.
Sentences longer than one year came in 8 of 26 convictions (31%), more often than the 26% for the year. Most of the difference was in the longest sentences: 3 convictions (12%) were 5 years or more, compared with 6%.
Other Sentence Lengths
Convictions with no confinement made up 15%, the same as the year. Sentences from 6 months to 1 year made up 23%, also the same as the year. Sentences of more than 1 year and under 5 years made up 19%, compared with 20%.
Only short sentences were less common than across the year. Sentences under 6 months made up 31% of convictions, compared with 36% for 2020.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 4 | 15% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 8 | 31% | 36% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 6 | 23% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 5 | 19% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 3 | 12% | 6% |
How the Court Levels Compared
Only a general court-martial can impose more than one year of confinement. A special court-martial is capped at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. General courts-martial made up 41% of these cases (12 of 29).
At the 12 general courts-martial, 91% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 1.5 years. At the 17 special courts-martial, 80% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 5 months.
Child Sexual Abuse, Attempts, and Absence
The records list charges for 28 of the 29 cases, and each article is counted once per case. Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) appeared in 5 cases (18%), compared with 9% for the year. Article 80 (attempts) also appeared in 5 cases (18%), compared with 11%. Article 86 (AWOL) appeared in 4 cases (14%), compared with 7%.
Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 12 cases (43%), compared with 36%. Article 92 (failure to obey order or regulation) appeared in 7 cases (25%), compared with 18%. Article 112a (wrongful use, possession of controlled substances) appeared in 29% of cases, about the same as its 30% for the year. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 18%, compared with 16%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 12 | 43% | 36% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 8 | 29% | 30% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 7 | 25% | 18% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 5 | 18% | 9% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 5 | 18% | 11% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 5 | 18% | 16% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 4 | 14% | 7% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 3 | 11% | 12% |
Assault and Drug Convictions
Article 128 cases ended in a conviction on that article in 11 of 12 cases (92%). Those convictions had a median confinement of 11 months. Article 112a cases ended in a conviction on that article in 7 of 8 cases, with a median confinement of 5 months.
One case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so the rows of this table overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 12 | 11 (92%) | 11 months |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 8 | 7 (7 of 8) | 5 months |
More Punitive Discharges Than the Year
For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or dishonorable discharge imposed by the court. A punitive discharge was part of 69% of enlisted convictions this month: 12 bad-conduct discharges and 6 dishonorable discharges. The share for 2020 was 62%. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation later.
Compared With March 2019
March 2019 had 40 cases, and March 2020 had 29. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, and few pleas are recorded for this month. Of the 8 recorded pleas, 2 were contested, compared with a contested share of 43% a year earlier. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 7 of 12 to 1 of 2.
The median confinement went from 9 months to 10 months. Convictions with confinement went from 91% to 85%. Punitive discharges for enlisted members went from 62% to 69%, and general courts-martial went from 48% to 41%. A few cases can change percentages in groups this small, so these comparisons show direction, not precise change.
| March 2019 | March 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 40 | 29 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 43% | 2 of 8 |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 7 of 12 | 1 of 2 |
| Convictions with confinement | 91% | 85% |
| Median confinement | 9 months | 10 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 62% | 69% |
| General courts-martial | 48% | 41% |
Who Was Tried
Among the accused with rank recorded, 17 were junior enlisted and 11 were NCOs. No officers were tried. The group was more senior than the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2020.
Installations With the Most Cases
Okinawa, Japan, tried the most cases, 6. Camp Pendleton, California, tried 5, and Bremerton, Washington, tried 3. Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, and San Diego, California, tried 2 each. These five account for 62% of the month. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone says nothing about a particular base.
What the Records Do Not Show
The records list charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not include the evidence, plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial.
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 March 2020 (29 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 February 2020 (previous / next)
- April 2020 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 18 Cases (previous / next)
- The Navy-Marine Corps Court-Martial Year, 2020 (the whole year)
- April 2018 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 43 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.