Pensacola, Florida Before and After 2019: How Its Courts-Martial Changed
Pensacola, Florida, tried 42 courts-martial in 2019–2023, compared with 74 in 2013–2018. Article 120 sexual assault appeared in 44% of the later cases, compared with 14% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › Pensacola, Florida › Before and after 2019
Short answer: Pensacola, Florida, tried 42 courts-martial in 2019–2023, compared with 74 in 2013–2018. Article 120 sexual assault appeared in 44% of the later cases, compared with 14% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Contested cases ended in a full acquittal 58% of the time (14 of 24), compared with 29% service-wide. Median confinement went from 6 months to 3 months.
Sexual Assault and Assault Were the Most Common Charges
Of the 41 cases whose records list charges, 18 included Article 120 rape and sexual assault and 18 included Article 128 assault. Each is 44% of the cases. Service-wide, those shares were 14% and 31%.
Drug and general article charges were less common. Article 112a drug offenses appeared in 17% of Pensacola cases, compared with 25% across the service. Article 134, the general article, appeared in 12%, compared with 18%. A case with several articles counts under each one.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Navy and Marine Corps-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 18 | 44% | 31% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 18 | 44% | 14% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 7 | 17% | 25% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 6 | 15% | 18% |
| Art. 134 General article | 5 | 12% | 18% |
| Art. 115 Malingering before 2019, communicating threats since | 4 | 10% | 3% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 3 | 7% | 5% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 3 | 7% | 7% |
Most Cases Were Contested, and Many Ended in a Full Acquittal
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Of the 41 records that list a plea, 24 were contested and 17 were guilty pleas. That is 59% contested, compared with 31% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Of the 24 contested cases that reached a verdict, 14 ended in a full acquittal (58%), compared with 29% service-wide. Another 2 ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of one charge but guilty of another. Pleas differed by charge. Cases charging Article 128 ended in a guilty plea 28% of the time (5 of 18). Cases charging Article 120 ended in a guilty plea 17% of the time (3 of 18). The records do not show why an accused pleaded guilty or contested the charges.
Compared With 2013–2018
The earlier period had about 12 cases a year and the later one about 8, counting full years only. By year, the later period had 11 cases in 2019, 1 in 2020, 11 in 2021, 13 in 2022, and 6 in 2023. The contested share went from 38% to 59%. Full acquittals went from 12 of 26 contested cases that reached a verdict to 14 of 24.
Median confinement went from 6 months to 3 months. The share of convictions with any confinement went from 84% to 89%. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members were 56% in both periods. General courts-martial went from 49% to 55% of cases. Groups this size change with a few cases, and the records cannot show the cause of any change.
| 2013–2018 | 2019–2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 74 | 42 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 38% | 59% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 12 of 26 | 14 of 24 |
| Convictions with confinement | 84% | 89% |
| Median confinement | 6 months | 3 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 56% | 56% |
| General courts-martial | 49% | 55% |
Short Sentences for Those Convicted
Of the 42 cases, 27 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 24 of those sentences included confinement (89%). The median confinement was 3 months, lower than the 6 months across the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of the sentences were 7 months or longer.
Sentences under 6 months were 59% of convictions, compared with 35% service-wide. 3 of 27 convictions (11%) carried more than one year, compared with 24%. No sentence was 5 years or more (0%), compared with 5%. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each one covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, Navy and Marine Corps-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 3 | 11% | 17% |
| Under 6 months | 16 | 59% | 35% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 5 | 19% | 24% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 3 | 11% | 19% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 5% |
Convictions on the Top Charges
Of 18 cases charging Article 128 assault, 6 ended in a conviction on that article (33%), with a median confinement of 5 months. Of 18 cases charging Article 120 sexual assault, 6 also ended in a conviction on that article (33%), with a median of 4 months. A conviction on one article and an acquittal on another can happen in the same case, so these rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 18 | 6 (33%) | 5 months |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 18 | 6 (33%) | 4 months |
Court Level and Discharges
General courts-martial made up 55% of these cases, 23 of 42. They had a median confinement of 8 months, and 73% were contested. The 19 special courts-martial had a median of 45 days, and 42% were contested. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. 56% of enlisted convictions here included one: 13 bad-conduct and 2 dishonorable. Across the Navy and Marine Corps, the rate was 63%. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Who Was Tried
The accused were 24 junior enlisted members, 16 NCOs, and 2 officers or warrant officers. That mix is more senior than in the service as a whole, where 64% were junior enlisted.
Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so the plea counts use only the 41 records that list one. With groups this small, a few verdicts can change the acquittal rate by several points.
Compared With Similar Installations
MCAS Miramar, California, and Washington, D.C., tried a similar number of cases in these years. Pensacola had the highest contested share of the 3: 59%, compared with 30% and 38%. It had the shortest median confinement: 3 months, compared with 6 months and 8 months. Miramar had 0 full acquittals in 6 contested cases that reached a verdict, and Washington, D.C. had 7 of 15.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pensacola, Florida | 42 | 59% | 14 of 24 | 3 months | 56% |
| MCAS Miramar, California | 42 | 30% | 0 of 6 | 6 months | 66% |
| Washington, D.C. | 41 | 38% | 7 of 15 | 8 months | 59% |
What the Records Cannot Show
The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They cannot show the cause of any change between the 2 periods. They also do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Pensacola, Florida in 2013–2018 (74) and 2019–2023 (42).
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
- Pensacola, Florida: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Pensacola, Florida, 2013–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 74 Cases
- What Was Tried at Pensacola, Florida, 2019–2023? 42 Courts-Martial
- Pensacola, Florida, 2024–2026: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 15 Cases
- Assault Charges at Pensacola, Florida, 2013–2018: Pleas, Verdicts, and Sentences
- Bremerton, Washington Before and After 2019: How Its Courts-Martial Changed
- Bremerton, Washington Before and After 2024: How Its Courts-Martial Changed
- Great Lakes, Illinois Before and After 2019: How Its Courts-Martial Changed
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Pensacola, Florida, 2019–2023
Names and links only. Each judge's record of pleas, findings, and sentences is on their Know Your Judge page, part of the Court-Martial Characters membership.
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.