Pensacola, Florida in 2018: 11 Courts-Martial, Year in Review
In 2018, Pensacola, Florida tried 11 courts-martial. Of the convicted enlisted members, 40% received a punitive discharge, while the Navy and Marine Corps figure for 2018 was 66%. The median confinement was 5 months, shorter than the 7-month median for the Navy and Marine Corps.
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Trends › By Installation › Pensacola, Florida › 2018
Short answer: In 2018, Pensacola, Florida tried 11 courts-martial. Of the convicted enlisted members, 40% received a punitive discharge, while the Navy and Marine Corps figure for 2018 was 66%. The median confinement was 5 months, shorter than the 7-month median for the Navy and Marine Corps.
Confinement Terms Were Shorter
Pensacola had 10 convictions in 2018. Confinement was part of the sentence in 9. The middle confinement term was 5 months, which is shorter than the 7-month median for the Navy and Marine Corps that year.
At the upper end, a quarter of the terms with confinement reached 7 months or more. The sentences shown are the ones adjudged at trial. A plea-agreement cap, clemency, or an appeal could change them later, and each sentence reflects all charges in its case.
Discharges: 2 Bad-Conduct, 2 Dishonorable
Punitive discharges went to 40% of the convicted enlisted members. That count includes 2 bad-conduct discharges and 2 dishonorable discharges. For the Navy and Marine Corps in 2018, the figure was 66%.
An enlisted member whose sentence has no punitive discharge can still face an administrative separation afterward.
Pleas and the 2 Contested Cases
Guilty pleas came in 9 of the 11 cases. The remaining 2 accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge, which makes them contested cases. Pensacola's contested share was 18%, while the Navy and Marine Corps share was 28%.
Of those 2 contested cases that reached a verdict, 1 ended in a full acquittal.
Which Articles Appeared?
A charge list appears in 10 of the 11 records. Assault under Article 128 was charged in 5 of those cases (50%). For the Navy and Marine Corps, the assault share was 34%.
Article 107 (false official statements), Article 80 (attempts), Article 120 (rape and sexual assault), and Article 120b (rape and sexual assault of a child) were each charged in 2 cases, or 20%. Only 1 case (10%) included drug use or possession under Article 112a, against 26% for the Navy and Marine Corps. A case that lists more than one article is counted once under each.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 5 | 50% | 34% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 2 | 20% | 16% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 2 | 20% | 11% |
| Art. 120b Rape and sexual assault of a child | 2 | 20% | 10% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 2 | 20% | 12% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 1 | 10% | 26% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 1 | 10% | 6% |
| Art. 134 General article | 1 | 10% | 15% |
Who Was Tried
Pensacola's accused were 6 NCOs (E-5 to E-9) and 5 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4). No officers or warrant officers were tried. Junior enlisted members made up 61% of the accused across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Of the 11 cases, 5 were general courts-martial (45%). The rest were special courts-martial, where confinement is limited to one year and a dishonorable discharge is not available.
Quantico and Bremerton
Quantico and Bremerton tried a similar number of Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2018. Quantico, Virginia had 21 cases, an 11-month median confinement, and a 56% punitive discharge rate. Bremerton, Washington had 28 cases, a 6-month median, and a 46% rate. Bremerton's contested share, 18%, matched Pensacola's.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pensacola, Florida | 11 | 18% | 1 of 2 | 5 months | 40% |
| Quantico, Virginia | 21 | 0 of 1 | — | 11 months | 56% |
| Bremerton, Washington | 28 | 18% | 0 of 5 | 6 months | 46% |
Limits
All of these trials took place before January 1, 2019, when the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect. Plea records for Navy and Marine Corps cases are often missing before December 2020. The records also leave out the evidence, plea terms, and anything handled without 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 with a trial date in 2018 (11 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
- Pensacola, Florida: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Pensacola, Florida: 2017 (previous / next)
- A Year of Courts-Martial at Pensacola, Florida: 2019 (previous / next)
- Pensacola, Florida, 2013–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 74 Cases (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.