Twentynine Palms, California Courts-Martial, 2017–2018: What 30 Cases Show
The records hold 30 courts-martial at Twentynine Palms, California in 2017 and 2018. Orders violations (Article 92) were charged in 27% of them, compared with 15% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
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Trends › By Installation › Twentynine Palms, California › 2017–2018
Short answer: The records hold 30 courts-martial at Twentynine Palms, California in 2017 and 2018. Orders violations (Article 92) were charged in 27% of them, compared with 15% across the Navy and Marine Corps. 83% of convicted enlisted members received a punitive discharge, compared with 67% service-wide.
Most Convicted Enlisted Members Received a Punitive Discharge
19 of 23 convicted enlisted members received a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge (83%). Across the Navy and Marine Corps in those years, the share was 67%. 4 of the 19 were dishonorable discharges. A dishonorable discharge is the more severe of the 2 punitive discharges, and only a general court-martial can adjudge one.
The records also show 1 convicted officer or warrant officer, who was sentenced to dismissal. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Every Conviction Included Confinement
All 24 convictions included confinement (100%). Across the service, 12% of convictions had no confinement. The median confinement was 7 months, the same as the service median. A quarter of the sentences were 1 year or longer.
These are adjudged sentences. They are the sentences announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
How Long Were the Sentences?
46% of convictions had confinement from 6 months to 1 year, compared with 23% service-wide. 38% had confinement under 6 months, compared with 34%. No conviction had confinement between 1 and 5 years. 4 convictions (17%) had confinement of 5 years or more, compared with 10% across the service.
In total, 4 of 24 convictions (17%) had confinement longer than one year. That is less often than the 30% service share. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 0 | 0% | 12% |
| Under 6 months | 9 | 38% | 34% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 11 | 46% | 23% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 0 | 0% | 20% |
| 5 years or more | 4 | 17% | 10% |
Orders Violations and Larceny Were Charged More Often
All 30 records list charges, and each article counts once per case. Assault (Article 128) was the most common charge, in 40% of cases, compared with 35% service-wide. Orders violations (Article 92) appeared in 27% of cases, compared with 15%. Larceny (Article 121) appeared in 20%, compared with 10%.
Drug offenses (Article 112a) were charged less often: 20% of cases, compared with 29% across the service. Sexual assault (Article 120) was also charged less often: 13% compared with 18%. Dueling (Article 114) appeared in 7% of cases, compared with 1% service-wide. Attempts (Article 80) also appeared in 7%, lower than the 11% service share. The general article (Article 134) was about the same as the service figure: 13% compared with 14%.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, Navy and Marine Corps-wide |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 12 | 40% | 35% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 8 | 27% | 15% |
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 6 | 20% | 29% |
| Art. 121 Larceny | 6 | 20% | 10% |
| Art. 134 General article | 4 | 13% | 14% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 4 | 13% | 18% |
| Art. 114 Dueling | 2 | 7% | 1% |
| Art. 80 Attempts | 2 | 7% | 11% |
Results on Assault and Orders Charges
10 of 12 cases that charged Article 128 ended in a conviction on that article (83%). The median confinement for those convictions was 9 months. 4 of 8 cases that charged Article 92 ended in a conviction on that article, with a median confinement of 4 months.
A case can include a conviction on one article and an acquittal on another, so the rows overlap.
| Article | Cases charging it | Convicted of it (share) | Median confinement when convicted of it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 128 Assault | 12 | 10 (83%) | 9 months |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 8 | 4 (4 of 8) | 4 months |
General and Special Courts-Martial
General courts-martial heard 12 of the 30 cases (40%). A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. All 8 convictions at general courts-martial included confinement, and the median was 3 years.
The 18 special courts-martial are capped at one year of confinement. 100% of their convictions included confinement, and the median was 6 months.
Rank of the Accused
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 83% of the accused. NCOs were 12%, and officers were 4%. Across the Navy and Marine Corps, junior enlisted members were 64% of the accused, so this group was more junior than the service as a whole.
Pearl Harbor and Kaneohe Bay
Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (30 cases) and Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay (31 cases) held a similar number of cases. Their median confinement was 6 months and 9 months. Their punitive discharge rates for convicted enlisted members were 78% and 79%.
Pearl Harbor's records list pleas. 30% of its cases were contested, and 2 of 9 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. Plea data is missing for Twentynine Palms in this period, so the contested shares cannot be compared.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Twentynine Palms, California | 30 | — | — | 7 months | 83% |
| Pearl Harbor, Hawaii | 30 | 30% | 2 of 9 | 6 months | 78% |
| Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay | 31 | — | — | 9 months | 79% |
Years, Rules, and Limits
There were 20 cases in 2017 and 10 in 2018. That is 3% of the 1,002 Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years. All of these trials took place before the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019.
Navy and Marine Corps records from these years often omit the plea. For that reason, this page does not report how often cases were contested or how contested cases ended. The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the plea terms, and they do not include nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial in the data tried at Twentynine Palms, California with a trial date in 2017–2018 (30 cases), compared with all 1,002 Navy and Marine Corps trials in those years. Dates are trial dates.
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
- Twentynine Palms, California: Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- What Was Tried at Twentynine Palms, California, 2019–2023? 47 Courts-Martial (another period)
- What Was Tried at Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, 2017–2018? 31 Courts-Martial (same years, similar size)
- What Was Tried at MCAS Miramar, California, 2017–2018? 26 Courts-Martial (same years, similar size)
- Bremerton, Washington Courts-Martial, 2024–2026: What 52 Cases Show
- Bremerton, Washington, 2013–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 221 Cases
- Bremerton, Washington, 2019–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 153 Cases
- Camp Lejeune, North Carolina Courts-Martial, 2019–2023: What 283 Cases Show
- 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.