What the Navy-Marine Corps Tried in October 2020
The records show 40 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in October 2020. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 31% of them, compared with 16% for all of 2020.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Year › October 2020
Short answer: The records show 40 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial in October 2020. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 31% of them, compared with 16% for all of 2020. The median confinement was 1 year, compared with 6 months for the year, and 50% of cases with a recorded plea were contested.
Sexual Assault and Assault Were the Most Common Charges
Charges are listed for 36 of the 40 cases, and each article is counted once per case. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 11 cases (31%), compared with 16% across the Navy and Marine Corps in 2020. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 17 cases (47%), compared with 36%.
Drug charges were less common than across the year. Article 112a appeared in 6 cases (17%), compared with 30%. Article 80 (attempts) appeared in 17% of cases, compared with 11%. Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) appeared in 14%, compared with 9%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 17 | 47% | 36% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 11 | 31% | 16% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 8 | 22% | 18% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 6 | 17% | 30% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 6 | 17% | 11% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 5 | 14% | 9% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 5 | 14% | 12% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 11% | 13% |
Contested Cases Made Up 50% of Recorded Pleas
Only 20 of the 40 records list a plea. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit it. Of those 20, 10 accused pleaded guilty and 10 contested at least one charge with a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 50%, compared with 30% for 2020.
Of the 10 contested cases that reached a verdict, 3 ended in a full acquittal (30%), slightly lower than the 34% for the year. Another 1 ended in a partial acquittal, meaning not guilty of at least one charge and guilty of another.
A Median Sentence of 1 Year
Of 34 convictions, 26 included confinement (76%). The median confinement was 1 year, longer than the 6 months for 2020. A quarter of the sentences with confinement were 2 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences: the sentence announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, covering every charge in the case.
Sentences longer than one year came in 13 of 34 convictions (38%), compared with 26% for the year. At the same time, 8 convictions had no confinement (24%), compared with 15%. The month had more convictions than the year at both ends of the range.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2020 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 8 | 24% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 9 | 26% | 36% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 4 | 12% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 10 | 29% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 3 | 9% | 6% |
Convictions on the Most Common Charges
All 8 cases charging Article 92 (failure to obey order or regulation) ended in a conviction on that article, with a median confinement of 8 months. Article 128 and Article 120 cases each ended in a conviction on the charged article in 82% of cases: 14 of 17 for Article 128 and 9 of 11 for Article 120.
The median confinement was 1.2 years for Article 128 convictions and 1.8 years for Article 120 convictions. Each median covers the full sentence in those cases. The rows overlap when a case includes more than one article.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 17 | 14 (82%) | 1.2 years |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 11 | 9 (82%) | 1.8 years |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 8 | 8 (8 of 8) | 8 months |
General and Special Courts-Martial
General courts-martial made up 21 of the 40 cases (52%), compared with 41% for 2020. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial cannot impose more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge.
The general courts-martial had a median confinement of 1.9 years. The 19 special courts-martial had a median of 4 months.
Only a general court-martial can impose more than one year of confinement, so the 13 sentences over one year all came from general courts-martial. General courts-martial made up a larger share of this month than of the year.
More Punitive Discharges Than the Year
A punitive discharge was part of 69% of enlisted convictions: 12 bad-conduct discharges and 10 dishonorable discharges. The share for 2020 was 62%. The 2 convicted officers or warrant officers this month were not dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out an administrative separation later.
A More Senior Group
Among the accused with rank recorded, 21 were junior enlisted, 13 were NCOs, and 3 were officers. The group was more senior than the Navy and Marine Corps for all of 2020.
October 2019 to October 2020
October 2019 had 52 cases, and October 2020 had 40. The median confinement was 1 year in both months. Convictions with confinement were about the same, 77% and 76%. The contested share went from 35% to 50%, and punitive discharges for enlisted members went from 57% to 69%. Full acquittals went from 2 of 7 to 3 of 10.
In groups this small, a few cases can change any figure, so the comparison shows direction rather than precise change.
| October 2019 | October 2020 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 52 | 40 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 35% | 50% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 2 of 7 | 3 of 10 |
| Convictions with confinement | 77% | 76% |
| Median confinement | 1 year | 1 year |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 57% | 69% |
| General courts-martial | 54% | 52% |
Locations and Limits
Camp Pendleton, California, tried 7 cases, and Bremerton, Washington, tried 5. Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, and Norfolk, Virginia, tried 4 each, and Jacksonville, Florida, tried 3. Together these five account for 58% of the month. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.
The records include only cases that reached a court-martial. They do not include nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, or cases with no action. They do not describe the evidence, plea terms, or offense dates.
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 2020 (40 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 September 2020 (previous / next)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, November 2020: The Month in Review (previous / next)
- The Navy-Marine Corps Court-Martial Year, 2020 (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.