Sheppard AFB, Texas Before and After 2019: How Its Courts-Martial Changed
Sheppard AFB, Texas tried 17 courts-martial from 2019 to 2023, and 5 of them ended in a full acquittal (29%), compared with 24% across the Air Force. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 40% in 2016–2018 to 67%.
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Trends › By Installation › Sheppard AFB, Texas › Before and after 2019
Short answer: Sheppard AFB, Texas tried 17 courts-martial from 2019 to 2023, and 5 of them ended in a full acquittal (29%), compared with 24% across the Air Force. Punitive discharges for convicted enlisted members went from 40% in 2016–2018 to 67%. The median confinement was 4 months, compared with 2 months in the earlier period.
Full Acquittals and Pleas
15 of the 17 records list the plea: 7 guilty pleas and 8 contested cases. A contested case has a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share, 53%, was close to the 50% Air Force-wide.
5 of the 17 cases ended in a full acquittal (29%). Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea, so this rate is measured against all cases. Among the 8 decided contested cases, 5 ended in a full acquittal.
Discharges Before and After 2019
A punitive discharge followed 67% of enlisted convictions: 6 bad-conduct discharges and 2 dishonorable discharges. The Air Force share was 56%. In 2016–2018 the share at Sheppard was 40%. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
| 2016–2018 | 2019–2023 | |
|---|---|---|
| Cases | 11 | 17 |
| Contested (of pleas recorded) | — | 53% |
| Convictions with confinement | 70% | 83% |
| Median confinement | 2 months | 4 months |
| Punitive discharge (enlisted) | 40% | 67% |
| General courts-martial | 45% | 65% |
Confinement
12 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 10 of those sentences included confinement (83%). The median was 4 months, the same as across the Air Force. A quarter of the sentences with confinement were 6 months or longer.
In 2016–2018, 70% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 2 months. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. With few cases, the changes show direction only.
Charges
12 of the 17 records list the charges. Article 92 (failure to obey order or regulation) appeared in 4 cases (33%), compared with 16% across the Air Force. Article 134 (general article) appeared in 25%.
Drug charges under Article 112a (wrongful use, possession of controlled substances) appeared in 17% of cases, lower than the 41% Air Force share. Article 93a (prohibited activities with recruit or trainee) appeared in 1 case.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the whole Air Force docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 4 | 33% | 16% |
| Art. 134 General article | 3 | 25% | 21% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 2 | 17% | 41% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 2 | 17% | 19% |
| Art. 108 Military property; loss, damage, destruction | 1 | 8% | 0% |
| Art. 126 Arson; burning property with intent to defraud | 1 | 8% | 0% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 1 | 8% | 11% |
| Art. 93a Prohibited activities with recruit or trainee | 1 | 8% | 0% |
Court Level, Forum, and Rank
Sheppard held 11 general and 6 special courts-martial. The general share, 65%, compares with 53% in the rest of the Air Force and 45% at Sheppard in 2016–2018.
Members heard 35% of the cases with the forum listed: 4 enlisted panels and 2 officer panels. A military judge alone decided the other 11. Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 76% of the accused, compared with 64% Air Force-wide.
Caseload and Peers
The yearly count was 2 in 2019, 3 in 2020, 6 in 2021, 4 in 2022, and 2 in 2023. The earlier period had 11 cases, about 4 a year, compared with about 3 a year since. RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom and USAF Academy, Colorado each tried 20 cases in 2019–2023.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sheppard AFB, Texas | 17 | 53% | 5 of 8 | 4 months | 67% |
| RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom | 20 | 50% | 1 of 7 | 8 months | 73% |
| USAF Academy, Colorado | 20 | 75% | 3 of 9 | 4 months | 7% |
Limits
Trial records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show offense dates, evidence, plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial. Air Force records rarely list charges in full acquittals.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial tried at Sheppard AFB, Texas in 2016–2018 (11) and 2019–2023 (17).
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
- Sheppard AFB, Texas: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- Sheppard AFB, Texas Courts-Martial, 2019–2023: What 17 Cases Show
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Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at Sheppard AFB, Texas, 2019–2023
- Thomas J. Alford
- Jefferson B. Brown
- Christina M. Jimenez
- Shad R. Kidd
- Bradley J. Palmer
- Sterling C. Pendleton
- Dayle P. Percle
- Mark F. Rosenow
- Thomas A. Smith
- Charles G. Warren
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.