March 2024 at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: 34 Cases

Trends › By Year › March 2024

Based on 34 cases · March 2024 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Contested Cases Were Common

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Of the 31 records that list a plea, 16 were guilty pleas and 15 were contested. The contested share was 48%, higher than the 34% for the Navy and Marine Corps across 2024.

The contested share was higher than the year at both court levels: 57% at general courts-martial and 41% at special courts-martial.

Verdicts in Contested Cases

Of the 15 contested cases that reached a verdict, 4 ended in a full acquittal (27%). Another 3 ended in a partial acquittal (20%). A partial acquittal means a not-guilty finding on at least one charge or specification and a guilty finding on another.

The full acquittal rate was the same as the 27% for the year. The month had more contested cases than usual, but the share of those cases ending in a full acquittal was not higher.

Many Convictions Without Confinement

Of 28 convictions, 17 included confinement, and 11 (39%) did not, compared with 25% for 2024. The median confinement for those sentenced to confinement was 6 months, about the same as the 5 months for the year. A quarter of those sentences were 1.9 years or longer. All sentences here are adjudged: they are the sentences announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in a case.

Sentences under 6 months made up 29% of convictions, compared with 38%. Sentences from 6 months to 1 year made up 11%, compared with 15%. Sentences longer than one year came in 6 of 28 convictions (21%), about the same as the 22% for the year. Sentences of 5 years or more made up 7%, the same as the year.

Larceny and Orders Violations Were More Common

Charges are listed for 33 of the 34 cases, and a case with three articles appears in three rows. Article 121 (larceny) appeared in 6 cases (18%), compared with 8% for the year. Article 92 (failure to obey order or regulation) appeared in 8 cases (24%), compared with 16%.

Article 134 (general article) also appeared in 8 cases (24%), about the same as its 22% for the year. Article 80 (attempts) appeared in 12% of cases, compared with 7%. Article 129 (burglary; unlawful entry) appeared in 9%, compared with 3%. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 18%, Article 128b (domestic violence) in 12%, and Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) in 9%.

Convictions on the Most Common Charges

Article 134 and Article 92 cases each ended in a conviction on that article in 7 of 8 cases. The median confinement for those convictions was 1.7 years for the general article and 1.1 years for failure to obey an order. Each sentence covers every charge in its case, so these medians include any other articles charged in the same case. A case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so the rows overlap.

A Senior Group and More General Courts-Martial

Among the accused with rank recorded, 12 were junior enlisted and 18 were NCOs. There were no officers. The group was more senior than the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2024.

General courts-martial, which can impose any lawful sentence, made up 17 of the 34 cases (50%), compared with 38% for the year. They had a median confinement of 1.7 years. The 17 special courts-martial, which are capped at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge, had a median of 3 months.

Fewer Punitive Discharges

Of 26 convicted enlisted members, 12 received a punitive discharge: 7 bad-conduct discharges and 5 dishonorable discharges. That 46% was lower than the 58% for the year. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation later.

Compared With March 2023

March 2023 had 37 cases, and March 2024 had 34. The contested share went from 33% to 48%. Full acquittals in contested cases that reached a verdict went from 3 of 11 to 4 of 15. General courts-martial went from 41% to 50%.

Convictions with confinement went from 83% to 61%. Punitive discharges for enlisted members went from 60% to 46%. The median confinement went from 4 months to 6 months. These are small groups, and a few cases can change the percentages, so the comparisons show direction only.

Locations, New Rules, and Limits

Camp Pendleton, California, tried 6 cases, and San Diego, California, tried 4. MCAS Miramar, California, Norfolk, Virginia, and Mayport, Florida, tried 3 each. Together these five account for 56% of the month.

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so these trials include cases under both the old and new rules. The records also do not include the evidence, plea terms, or cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: 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.