What Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Tried in 2016
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii held 14 courts-martial in 2016. 5 were contested, and 3 of those 5 ended in a full acquittal.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 5 min read
Trends › By Installation › Pearl Harbor, Hawaii › 2016
Short answer: Pearl Harbor, Hawaii held 14 courts-martial in 2016. 5 were contested, and 3 of those 5 ended in a full acquittal. Of the convicted enlisted members, 80% received a punitive discharge, compared with 62% across all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2016, and Article 128 (assault) was charged in 57% of cases, compared with 38%.
Contested Cases Often Ended in Acquittal
The accused pleaded guilty in 9 cases and contested at least one charge in 5. A contested case is one with a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 36%, compared with 27% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Of the 5 contested cases that reached a verdict, 3 ended in a full acquittal. The other 11 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge.
Equal Numbers of Bad-Conduct and Dishonorable Discharges
A punitive discharge followed 80% of enlisted convictions. There were 4 bad-conduct discharges and 4 dishonorable discharges. Across the Navy and Marine Corps, the punitive discharge share was 62%.
1 officer or warrant officer was convicted and was not dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Confinement Terms
Of the 11 convictions, 10 included confinement (91%). The median confinement was 8 months, longer than the 6-month median across the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 1.7 years or longer.
These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
Assault Led the Charges
All 14 records list the charges. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 8 cases. Article 134 (general article) appeared in 3 cases (21%), compared with 12% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Drug charges under Article 112a appeared in 2 cases (14%), lower than the 26% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) also appeared in 2 cases, compared with 21%. One case each involved Article 90 (willfully disobeying a superior officer), Article 105 (misconduct as a prisoner), and Article 119b (child endangerment, numbered since 2019).
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Navy and Marine Corps-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 8 | 57% | 38% |
| Art. 134 General article | 3 | 21% | 12% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 2 | 14% | 13% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 2 | 14% | 21% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 2 | 14% | 26% |
| Art. 90 Willfully disobeying superior officer | 1 | 7% | 2% |
| Art. 119b Child endangerment, numbered since 2019 | 1 | 7% | 1% |
| Art. 105 Misconduct as a prisoner | 1 | 7% | 0% |
Comparison With Mayport and Bremerton
Mayport, Florida tried 27 cases in 2016 and Bremerton, Washington tried 37. Pearl Harbor and Mayport had the same median confinement, 8 months. Bremerton's was 5 months.
Pearl Harbor had the highest contested share of these installations, 36%, compared with 23% at Mayport and 3% at Bremerton. Its punitive discharge rate, 80%, was also the highest.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pearl Harbor, Hawaii | 14 | 36% | 3 of 5 | 8 months | 80% |
| Mayport, Florida | 27 | 23% | 2 of 6 | 8 months | 68% |
| Bremerton, Washington | 37 | 3% | 1 of 1 | 5 months | 56% |
Who Was Tried, and at What Level
By rank, 7 accused were NCOs, 6 were junior enlisted members, and 1 was an officer. This group was more senior than the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole.
There were 8 general courts-martial and 6 special courts-martial. The general share, 57%, was higher than the 49% across the Navy and Marine Corps. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Before the 2019 Changes
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, and written plea agreements came later.
The records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. They leave out nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, and cases closed without action. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, and plea counts here use only the records that list it.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii with a trial date in 2016 (14 cases).
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
- Pearl Harbor, Hawaii: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- What Pearl Harbor, Hawaii Tried in 2014 (previous / next)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii: 2017 (previous / next)
- What Was Tried at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, 2013–2018? 83 Courts-Martial (the whole period)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2015
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2017
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2018
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Bremerton, Washington: 2020
- 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.