Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, October 2018: The Month in Review
The records show 42 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in October 2018. A punitive discharge was part of the sentence for 76% of convicted enlisted members, compared with 66% for all of 2018. Few cases were contested: 15% of those with a recorded plea, compared with 28% for the year.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › October 2018
Short answer: The records show 42 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in October 2018. A punitive discharge was part of the sentence for 76% of convicted enlisted members, compared with 66% for all of 2018. Few cases were contested: 15% of those with a recorded plea, compared with 28% for the year.
More Punitive Discharges Than the Year
A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or dishonorable discharge. A punitive discharge was part of 76% of enlisted convictions this month: 22 bad-conduct discharges and 7 dishonorable discharges. The share across the Navy and Marine Corps in 2018 was 66%.
The month also had 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 1 was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation later, and these records do not show administrative separations.
Most Recorded Pleas Were Guilty Pleas
The plea appears in 26 of the 42 records. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit it. Of those 26, 22 accused pleaded guilty and 4 contested at least one charge with a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share of 15% was lower than the 28% for 2018.
Of the 4 contested cases that reached a verdict, 2 ended in a full acquittal.
Attempts and Child Sexual Abuse Charges Were More Common
Charges are listed for 41 of the 42 cases, and each article is counted once per case. Article 80 (attempts) appeared in 7 cases (17%), compared with 12% for the year. Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) appeared in 6 cases (15%), compared with 10%.
Article 128 (assault) was the most common charge, in 14 cases (34%), the same as its share for the year. Article 112a (wrongful use, possession of controlled substances) appeared in 10 cases (24%), compared with 26%. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) was less common, 12% compared with 16%. Article 134 (general article) appeared in 10%, compared with 15%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 14 | 34% | 34% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 10 | 24% | 26% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 7 | 17% | 12% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 6 | 15% | 10% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 5 | 12% | 16% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 10% | 15% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 4 | 10% | 13% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 4 | 10% | 11% |
Every Drug Case Ended in Conviction
All 10 cases charging Article 112a ended in a conviction on that article (100%), with a median confinement of 5 months. Article 128 cases ended in a conviction on that article in 12 of 14 cases (86%), with a median of 6 months.
The same case can include several articles and end with a conviction on one and an acquittal on another, so these rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 14 | 12 (86%) | 6 months |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 10 | 10 (100%) | 5 months |
How Long Were the Sentences?
Of 40 convictions, 88% included confinement. The median confinement was 7 months, the same as the median for 2018. A quarter of the sentences with confinement were 1.5 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial and counted before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, for every charge in the case.
Sentences longer than one year came in 13 of 40 convictions (32%), about the same as the 30% for the year. Sentences of more than 1 year and under 5 years made up 25%, compared with 20%. 3 convictions were 5 years or more (8%). 5 convictions had no confinement (12%), compared with 15%.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 5 | 12% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 12 | 30% | 32% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 10 | 25% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 10 | 25% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 3 | 8% | 9% |
Most Cases Were General Courts-Martial
General courts-martial made up 52% of the month (22 of 42). A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. Special courts-martial made up the other 20 cases. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
The general courts-martial had a median confinement of 1.4 years. The special courts-martial had a median of 4 months.
The general share was higher than in October 2017, when it was 39%. A special court-martial cannot impose more than one year of confinement, so every sentence longer than one year came from a general court-martial.
Who the Accused Were
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 62% of the accused. NCOs made up 31%, and officers made up 7%. For the full year, junior enlisted members made up 61%, so the rank mix was about the same.
Compared With October 2017
October 2017 had 46 cases, and October 2018 had 42. Punitive discharges were about the same, 75% and 76%. The median confinement went from 6 months to 7 months. The contested share went from 21% to 15%, full acquittals went from 1 of 5 to 2 of 4, and general courts-martial went from 39% to 52%.
Because these groups are small, the comparisons show direction more than size.
| October 2017 | October 2018 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 46 | 42 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 21% | 15% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 1 of 5 | 2 of 4 |
| Convictions with confinement | 93% | 88% |
| Median confinement | 6 months | 7 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 75% | 76% |
| General courts-martial | 39% | 52% |
Bases, the Law, and the Limits
Camp Pendleton, California, tried 8 cases, and Norfolk, Virginia, tried 5. San Diego, California, tried 4. Jacksonville, Florida, and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, tried 3 each. Together these five account for 55% of the month. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
These trials came before January 1, 2019, when the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect. Its later changes, including judge-alone special courts-martial and written plea agreements, did not apply. The records also do not include offense dates, nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, 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 October 2018 (42 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, September 2018: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, November 2018: 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.