USAF Academy, Colorado Courts-Martial, 2019–2023: What 20 Cases Show
The USAF Academy, Colorado held 20 courts-martial in 2019–2023. Most were contested, and most were general courts-martial.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Installation › USAF Academy, Colorado › 2019–2023
Short answer: The USAF Academy, Colorado held 20 courts-martial in 2019–2023. Most were contested, and most were general courts-martial. Only 1 of 15 convicted enlisted members (7%) received a punitive discharge, compared with 56% across the Air Force, and Article 120 (sexual assault) appeared in 33% of cases with charges listed, compared with 11% Air Force-wide.
Few Punitive Discharges
The largest difference from the rest of the Air Force is in punitive discharges. A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge for an enlisted member. 1 of 15 convicted enlisted members received one (7%), and 0 received a dishonorable discharge. Across the Air Force as a whole, the share was 56%.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. These records do not show what happened after trial.
Most Convictions Included Confinement
15 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. 13 of those sentences included confinement (87%). The median confinement was 4 months, the same as the 4-month median in the rest of the Air Force. 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 one covers every charge in the case.
Most Cases Were Contested
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. Only 12 of the 20 records list a plea. Of those, 9 were contested and 3 were guilty pleas. The contested share was 75%, compared with 50% for the Air Force as a whole.
5 of the 20 cases ended in a full acquittal (25%), about the same as the 24% Air Force-wide. Air Force records from 2016 to 2019 rarely list a guilty plea. For that reason, this rate is measured against all cases, not only contested cases.
Sexual Assault and Orders Charges
15 of the 20 records list the charges, and a case with several articles counts under each. Article 120 (rape and sexual assault) appeared in 5 cases (33%), compared with 11% across the Air Force. Article 92 (failure to obey an order or regulation) also appeared in 5 cases (33%), compared with 16%.
Drug offenses (Article 112a) were the most common charge, in 6 cases (40%), about the same as the 41% Air Force-wide. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 4 cases (27%), and Article 107 (false official statements) appeared in 2. Air Force records rarely list charges when a case ends in a full acquittal, so this list mostly reflects cases with a conviction.
| UCMJ Article | Cases | Share here | Share, the whole Air Force docket |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art. 112a Wrongful use, possession of controlled substances | 6 | 40% | 41% |
| Art. 92 Failure to obey order or regulation | 5 | 33% | 16% |
| Art. 120 Rape and sexual assault | 5 | 33% | 11% |
| Art. 128 Assault | 4 | 27% | 19% |
| Art. 107 False official statements | 2 | 13% | 6% |
| Art. 104a Fraudulent enlistment | 1 | 7% | 0% |
| Art. 123a Making, drawing, or uttering check without sufficient funds | 1 | 7% | 0% |
| Art. 86 AWOL | 1 | 7% | 5% |
Nearly Every Case Was a General Court-Martial
General courts-martial heard 19 of the 20 cases (95%). A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge or dismissal. A special court-martial can adjudge no more than one year of confinement and no dishonorable discharge.
Almost every case here was tried at the level that can impose any punitive discharge. Even so, few convictions included one. The records show the sentence but not the reasons for it.
Who Decided Guilt?
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. A military judge alone heard 10 cases. An enlisted panel heard 2, and an officer panel heard 8. Members heard 50% of the cases, compared with 38% Air Force-wide. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas. This base had a higher contested share and a higher share of cases heard by members than the Air Force as a whole.
Rank of the Accused
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 85% of the accused. NCOs were 10%, and officers were 5%. Across all Air Force cases, junior enlisted members were 64%, so this group was more junior than the service as a whole.
Case Counts and Comparison Bases
The 20 cases were tried from February 2019 to October 2023: 8 in 2019, 5 in 2020, 2 in 2021, 1 in 2022, and 4 in 2023. That is 1% of the 1,361 Air Force courts-martial in those years. With counts this small, 1 case changes any percentage on this page.
RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom (20 cases) and FE Warren AFB, Wyoming (21 cases) held a similar number of cases. Their punitive discharge rates for convicted enlisted members were 73% and 64%. Their contested shares were 50% and 44%.
| Installation | Cases | Contested | Full acquittals (decided contested) | Median confinement | Punitive discharge (enlisted) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| USAF Academy, Colorado | 20 | 75% | 3 of 9 | 4 months | 7% |
| RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom | 20 | 50% | 1 of 7 | 8 months | 73% |
| FE Warren AFB, Wyoming | 21 | 44% | 5 of 7 | 4 months | 64% |
What the Records Do Not Show
Trial records show the charges, pleas, findings, and sentence. They do not show offense dates, the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial, such as nonjudicial punishment. Air Force records never report plea agreements and rarely list charges in full acquittals. With only 20 cases, a few different outcomes would change most of the comparisons on this page.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Every court-martial in the data tried at USAF Academy, Colorado with a trial date in 2019–2023 (20 cases), compared with all 1,361 Air Force 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
- Air Force Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Installation (hub)
- RAF Mildenhall, United Kingdom Courts-Martial, 2019–2023: What 20 Cases Show (same years, similar size)
- What Was Tried at FE Warren AFB, Wyoming, 2019–2023? 21 Courts-Martial (same years, similar size)
- Andersen AFB, Guam Courts-Martial, 2016–2018: What 13 Cases Show
- Aviano AB, Italy Courts-Martial, 2016–2018: What 16 Cases Show
- Aviano AB, Italy, 2019–2023: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 17 Cases
- Barksdale AFB, Louisiana, 2016–2018: Charges, Verdicts, and Sentences in 27 Cases
- Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona Courts-Martial, 2019–2023: What 29 Cases Show
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Military Judges Who Presided Over Cases at USAF Academy, Colorado, 2019–2023
- Thomas J. Alford
- Jefferson B. Brown
- Elizabeth M. Hernandez
- Christopher D. James
- Bradley J. Palmer
- Sterling C. Pendleton
- Dayle P. Percle
- Julie L. Pitvorec
- Matthew D. Talcott
- 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.