San Diego, California Before and After 2024: How Its Courts-Martial Changed

Trends › By Installation › San Diego, California › Before and after 2024

Based on 126 cases · 2024–2026 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

More Cases Each Year Since 2024

This post compares San Diego's courts-martial from January 2024 through September 2026 with its 2019–2023 cases. The earlier period had 173 cases, about 35 a year. Counting full years only, the later period has had about 48 a year. There were 58 cases in 2024, 38 in 2025, and 30 in 2026, which is a partial year.

Other measures also changed. The contested share went from 30% to 37%. Convictions with confinement went from 79% to 69%. Median confinement went from 6 months to 5 months. Punitive discharges for enlisted members went from 55% to 47%. The general court-martial share went from 43% to 32%. A few cases can change these rates, so they show direction, not precise rates.

Drug and Disobedience Charges Were More Common

Charge lists cover all 126 cases, and a case with several articles counts once under each. Article 112a (drug) was charged in 19% of San Diego's cases, compared with 12% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 90 (disobeying an officer) was charged in 10%, compared with 5%. Article 92 (orders violation) was less common: 13% here, compared with 19% service-wide.

Article 134 (general article) was the most common charge, at 21%, the same share as in the Navy and Marine Corps overall.

Which Charges Ended in Conviction?

Among the most common charges, Article 92 ended in a conviction on that article in 17 of 17 cases. Article 112a had the lowest rate of the group: 18 of 24. One case can end in a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so these rows overlap.

Guilty plea rates were different for each charge. Cases charging Article 134 ended in a guilty plea 72% of the time (18 of 25), the highest among the top charges. Cases charging Article 112a ended in a guilty plea 48% of the time (11 of 23). The records do not say why an accused pleaded guilty or contested.

Contested Cases and Acquittals

Of the 120 records that list the plea, 76 were guilty pleas and 44 were contested, meaning the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share of 37% is about the same as the 36% across the Navy and Marine Corps.

Of the 44 contested cases that reached a verdict, 12 ended in a full acquittal (27%), about the same as the 26% service-wide. Another 6 (14%) were partial acquittals: not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. In 2019–2023, 18 of 52 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal.

Sentence Length and Court Level

Confinement was part of 69% of the 112 convictions. The median confinement was 5 months, and a quarter of confinement sentences were 1.5 years or longer. Sentences longer than one year were about as common as service-wide: 23 of 112 convictions (21%), compared with 20%. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Results were very different by court level. At the 40 general courts-martial, 86% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 2.2 years. At the 85 special courts-martial, 60% did, with a median of 2 months. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Fewer Punitive Discharges

A punitive discharge followed 47% of enlisted convictions: 27 bad-conduct discharges and 20 dishonorable discharges. In the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps, the rate was 52%. Of 4 convicted officers or warrant officers, 1 was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Compared With Similar Installations

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Camp Pendleton, California tried a similar number of cases in the same years. San Diego's contested share of 37% was higher than at either installation. Its punitive discharge rate for enlisted members was lower than at either. Its median confinement was between the other 2.

Rank and Court Level

The accused were 65 junior enlisted members, 48 NCOs, and 4 officers. That mix is more senior than in the Navy and Marine Corps overall. There were 40 general and 85 special courts-martial, and 1 case does not list a court level. General courts-martial were 32% of cases, compared with 37% elsewhere in the Navy and Marine Corps and 43% at San Diego in 2019–2023.

Law Changes and What the Records Cannot Show

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. These changes took effect in the same period as the changes above. The records cannot show whether the law changes caused any of them. One reason is that the records give trial dates, not offense dates.

The records 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.

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.