General Article Charges at San Diego, California, 2019–2023: Pleas, Verdicts, and Sentences

Trends › By Installation › San Diego, California › Article 134, 2019–2023

Based on 25 cases · 2019–2023 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Every Sentence Included Confinement

All 25 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and every sentence included confinement (100%). Across Navy and Marine Corps Article 134 cases, 11% of convictions had no confinement. At San Diego the share was 0%.

The median confinement was shorter: 1 year, compared with 1.5 years service-wide. A quarter of the San Diego sentences were 1.9 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in the case.

Sentence Lengths

Confinement under 6 months was 40% of convictions, compared with 20% elsewhere. Confinement of 6 months to 1 year was 6 convictions (24%), compared with 17%.

Longer sentences were less common. Sentences longer than one year were 9 of 25 convictions (36%), compared with 52% in Article 134 cases across the service. Of those, 7 (28%) were more than 1 year but under 5 years, compared with 42%. 2 (8%) were 5 years or more, compared with 10%. Only a general court-martial can impose more than one year of confinement. A special court-martial is capped at one year.

Other Charges in These Cases

Article 134 covers conduct prejudicial to good order and discipline, service-discrediting conduct, and a list of specific offenses. At San Diego, 14 of the 25 cases charged at least one other article.

Article 131b (obstruction) and Article 80 (attempt) were each charged in 4 cases. Article 120b (child sexual abuse) and Article 92 (orders violation) were charged in 3 each. Article 117a (intimate images) was charged in 2. A sentence covers every finding in the case, so the general article is only part of what each sentence covers.

Contested Cases and Convictions

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. At San Diego, 17 accused pleaded guilty and 8 contested. The contested share was 32%, about the same as the 30% across the Navy and Marine Corps.

The records show a conviction on at least one charge in all 25 cases, including the contested ones. A contested plea can cover only some of the charges. A conviction after a contested plea may therefore include guilty pleas to other charges. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, and the plea counts use only records that list one.

Punitive Discharges and Dismissals

For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. One followed 70% of enlisted convictions at San Diego: 10 bad-conduct discharges and 6 dishonorable discharges. The rate in Article 134 cases service-wide was 74%. Only a general court-martial can impose a dishonorable discharge, and 17 of the 25 cases here were general courts-martial.

Of the 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, 1 was dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Rank and Court Level

The accused were 12 junior enlisted members, 11 NCOs, and 2 officers. That group is more senior than in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. General courts-martial were 68% of cases, 17 of 25, compared with 72% in all Navy and Marine Corps Article 134 cases. The records do not show how long any accused had served or what position each one held.

A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Cases by Year and What the Records Cannot Show

The cases run from April 2019 to December 2023. There were 2 in 2019, 1 in 2020, 8 in 2021, 6 in 2022, and 8 in 2023. They were 14% of the 173 courts-martial at San Diego in those years.

The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the plea terms. They do not include conduct handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. Article 134 covers many different kinds of conduct, so the figures here group together cases that may have little in common.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 134 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

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.