What San Diego, California Tried in 2022
San Diego, California held 27 courts-martial in 2022, and 59% were contested, compared with 33% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 117a, covering the wrongful broadcast of intimate visual images, was charged in 19% of cases, compared with 2% service-wide.
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Trends › By Installation › San Diego, California › 2022
Short answer: San Diego, California held 27 courts-martial in 2022, and 59% were contested, compared with 33% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Article 117a, covering the wrongful broadcast of intimate visual images, was charged in 19% of cases, compared with 2% service-wide. No conviction carried 5 years or more of confinement.
Most of the Accused Contested the Charges
Only 11 of the 27 accused pleaded guilty. The other 16 contested at least one charge with a not-guilty or mixed plea, so the government had to prove its case at trial. That 59% contested share was much higher than the 33% for the Navy and Marine Corps in 2022.
In 2021, San Diego's contested share was 38%. The records do not say why more of the accused contested, and they do not describe the evidence in any case.
Few Contested Cases Ended in Full Acquittal
Of the 16 contested cases that reached a verdict, 2 ended in a full acquittal, meaning not guilty of every charge. That is a full-acquittal rate of 12%. The whole Navy and Marine Corps docket had a rate of 20%.
Partial acquittals were more common. In 6 cases the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge but guilty of another. In those cases, the trial reduced the charges but did not end in a full acquittal.
Charges Were Different From the Service
All 27 records list the charges. Orders violations under Article 92 were the most common charge, in 7 cases (26%), compared with 18% service-wide. The general article, Article 134, was next, at 22%, compared with 20%.
Article 117a had the largest difference: 5 cases, or 19%, charged the wrongful broadcast of intimate visual images, compared with 2% across the Navy and Marine Corps. Larceny under Article 121 was 15%, compared with 7%. Assault under Article 128 was charged in 19% of cases, lower than the 23% elsewhere. Drug cases under Article 112a were 19%, compared with 22%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Navy and Marine Corps-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 7 | 26% | 18% |
| Art. 134 General article | 6 | 22% | 20% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 5 | 19% | 22% |
| Art. 117a Wrongful broadcast of intimate visual images | 5 | 19% | 2% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 5 | 19% | 23% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 4 | 15% | 7% |
| Art. 131b Obstructing justice | 2 | 7% | 5% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 2 | 7% | 6% |
Sentences Were Short
Of 25 cases with a conviction on at least one charge, 17 included confinement (68%). The median confinement was 5 months, about the same as the 6 months for the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole. A quarter of confinement sentences were 8 months or longer. These are adjudged sentences, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
32% of convictions here had no confinement, compared with 17% service-wide. Confinement under 6 months was 40%, compared with 38%. Confinement of 6 months to 1 year was 24%, compared with 25%. Only 1 of 25 convictions (4%) was longer than one year, compared with 20%. No sentence was 5 years or more.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, the Navy and Marine Corps as a whole |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 8 | 32% | 17% |
| Under 6 months | 10 | 40% | 38% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 6 | 24% | 25% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 1 | 4% | 16% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 4% |
Bad-Conduct Discharges Only
Of 25 convicted enlisted members, 11 received a punitive discharge (44%). All of those were bad-conduct discharges, not dishonorable discharges. The rest of the Navy and Marine Corps had a rate of 64%.
A special or a general court-martial can impose a bad-conduct discharge. Only a general court-martial can impose a dishonorable discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
General and Special Courts-Martial
General courts-martial tried 11 of the 27 cases (41%), about the same as the 42% across the Navy and Marine Corps. At general courts-martial, 7 of 9 convictions included confinement, with a median of 7 months. The 16 special courts-martial, which are capped at one year of confinement, included confinement in 62% of convictions, with a median of 3 months.
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 67% of the accused and NCOs were 33%. That is about the same as the 65% junior enlisted in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps.
2021 Compared With 2022
The number of cases went from 37 to 27. The contested share went from 38% to 59%. Full acquittals went from 5 of 14 to 2 of 16. Median confinement went from 6 months to 5 months. The share of convictions with confinement went from 75% to 68%. The enlisted punitive discharge rate went from 41% to 44%. The general court-martial share was 41% in both years.
In groups this small, a few cases can cause these changes. They show direction, not precise size.
| 2021 | 2022 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 37 | 27 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | 38% | 59% |
| Full acquittals (decided contested) | 5 of 14 | 2 of 16 |
| Convictions with confinement | 75% | 68% |
| Median confinement | 6 months | 5 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 41% | 44% |
| General courts-martial | 41% | 41% |
Similar Installations and What the Records Cannot Show
Jacksonville, Florida tried 23 cases, and 35% were contested. Of 8 contested cases that reached a verdict there, 3 ended in a full acquittal, and its median confinement was 5 months. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 48 cases, and 21% were contested. Its median confinement was 8 months and its enlisted punitive discharge rate was 77%.
The records list charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct resolved outside a court-martial.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| San Diego, California | 27 | 59% | 2 of 16 | 5 months | 44% |
| Jacksonville, Florida | 23 | 35% | 3 of 8 | 5 months | 45% |
| Camp Lejeune, North Carolina | 48 | 21% | 0 of 9 | 8 months | 77% |
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at San Diego, California with a trial date in 2022 (27 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
- San Diego, California: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- San Diego, California in 2021: 37 Courts-Martial, Year in Review (previous / next)
- San Diego, California in 2023: 31 Courts-Martial, Year in Review (previous / next)
- Inside 173 Courts-Martial at San Diego, California, 2019–2023 (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)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at San Diego, California, 2022
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.