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Collateral Consequences of a Court Martial: What a Conviction Costs After the Sentence

The sentence is the part everyone hears. The judge reads it out, and it has a number on it: days, months, a discharge.

It's rarely the whole price.

A court martial conviction follows you into your retirement, your VA claim, your right to own a gun, your clearance and, if you aren't a citizen, your right to stay in the country. None of that is on the sentence worksheet. Most of it is decided by what you're convicted of and which court convicts you, long before anyone argues about punishment. That's why I look at these consequences on day one, not after the verdict.

Facing a court martial? See how our court martial defense lawyers handle these cases. Related results: Bilecki Cuts $76,000 BAH Fraud Case from Five Specifications to One Plea and Secures Army Retirement at Camp Henry and Sexual Charges Dismissed; Army Major Pleads to Two Assaults and Preserves Medical Retirement. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Is a Court Martial Conviction a Felony?

The UCMJ doesn't use the word. What matters is this: a finding of guilty at a general or special court martial is a federal criminal conviction.

It goes into the FBI's records. Military investigators submit your fingerprints once they determine there is probable cause, and the final result is reported afterward. A general or special court martial conviction is reported as a conviction. Nonjudicial punishment and a summary court martial are reported as what they are: not criminal convictions. That record is what background checks pull from.

Your DNA goes into the federal database too. It's taken when your fingerprints are taken or when charges are preferred, and at conviction if it wasn't taken earlier. If you aren't convicted at a general or special court martial, you can ask to have it expunged. Most people don't know to ask.

Retirement

A punitive discharge or a dismissal ends your service. If you aren't retirement eligible yet, the pension goes with it. For someone at 18 or 19 years, the discharge can cost more than any confinement.

A reduction in grade costs money too. If you're enlisted and a court martial reduces you, and you aren't promoted back, your retired pay is figured on your final basic pay instead of your highest 36 months. That's a smaller check for the rest of your life.

And a conviction without a punitive discharge doesn't end the risk. The command can still start administrative separation afterward.

That's where a plea agreement earns its keep. A Sergeant First Class at Camp Henry, Korea, had more than 19 years of service and faced five specifications over roughly $76,000 in housing allowance. He pleaded guilty to one larceny specification. The agreement capped confinement at 45 days, barred a punitive discharge, fines and forfeitures, and required the command not to start separation or oppose his retirement. He retired.

Related result: Bilecki Cuts $76,000 BAH Fraud Case from Five Specifications to One Plea and Secures Army Retirement at Camp Henry. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

VA Benefits

A discharge or dismissal by sentence of a general court martial bars all VA benefits for that period of service. That includes a bad conduct discharge if a general court martial imposed it. The statute's main exception is insanity at the time of the offense.

A bad conduct discharge from a special court martial isn't an automatic bar. The VA makes its own character of discharge decision, and it can still deny benefits for an offense involving moral turpitude or for willful and persistent misconduct. It must consider whether compelling circumstances, such as mental health conditions, combat hardship or sexual assault, mitigate the misconduct.

So the forum matters twice: once for the maximum sentence, and again for the VA. I've written about how a plea deal can quietly give away VA benefits in The Dangerous Fine Print Behind UCMJ Plea Deals.

Gun Rights

Three federal firearms bans can follow a court martial:

  • A conviction for an offense punishable by more than a year. Federal courts have treated court martial convictions as convictions in "any court" under the federal gun laws.

  • A dishonorable discharge, or a dismissal from a general court martial. A bad conduct discharge doesn't trigger this one.

  • A conviction for a crime of domestic violence. This is the Lautenberg Amendment. It covers force used against a current or former spouse, your child, the other parent of your child, or someone you're dating or recently dated, among others.

The domestic violence ban is the one that ends careers. The other federal gun bans don't stop you from carrying a weapon the government issues you. This one does. A service member who can't be issued a weapon can't do most military jobs. Commanders have their own duties here, covered in Commander Responsibilities under Lautenberg, and the full picture for a domestic violence conviction is in What Happens If You Are Convicted of Domestic Violence in the Military?

Sex Offender Registration

The Defense Department keeps a list of UCMJ offenses that require registration, in DoD Instruction 1325.07. A conviction for one of them means registering under federal law where you live, work and go to school. Federal law also requires the Defense Department to report those convictions to the national sex offender registry and its public website, whether or not the sentence included confinement.

The way to avoid registration is to avoid a conviction for a listed offense. An Army Major at Fort Moore faced a general court martial on an Article 120 abusive sexual contact charge, three assault specifications and sexual harassment. The sexual contact and harassment charges were dismissed. He pleaded to two assaults at a special court martial, received 14 days that the judge recommended be suspended, and his medical retirement went through. No registration. More in our sex offender registration post.

Related result: Sexual Charges Dismissed; Army Major Pleads to Two Assaults and Preserves Medical Retirement. Past results do not guarantee a similar outcome.

Security Clearances

Many military jobs require a clearance. A conviction is weighed under the criminal conduct and personal conduct guidelines, and federal law adds hard bars:

  • An unlawful drug user can't be granted a clearance or have one renewed.

  • A dishonorable discharge or dismissal, or a sentence of more than a year with at least a year served, bars access to special access programs, Restricted Data and SCI unless a waiver is granted.

Clearance adjudication is its own process. What the court martial decides is the record that process starts from.

Immigration and Citizenship

If you aren't a U.S. citizen, this section matters more than the rest.

The Board of Immigration Appeals treats a general court martial conviction as a conviction for immigration purposes, the same as one from a civilian court. Depending on the offense, it can make you deportable: aggravated felonies, certain crimes involving moral turpitude, controlled substance offenses, firearms offenses, and crimes of domestic violence or child abuse. A conviction can also keep you from showing the good moral character you need to naturalize.

If you became a citizen through your military service, a separation under other than honorable conditions before you've served honorably for five years in total is grounds to revoke that citizenship.

Tell your defense lawyer your status on day one, and bring in an immigration lawyer before any plea. A plea that works for a citizen can start a removal case for someone who isn't.

What Can Still Be Changed

Almost every consequence above turns on three things: what you're convicted of, which court convicts you, and how your service is characterized when you leave. Those are the things the defense works on before trial.

  • The forum. A special court martial can't impose a dishonorable discharge or a dismissal, and its bad conduct discharge isn't an automatic VA bar. See General vs. Special Court Martial.

  • The findings. Getting a listed sex offense or a domestic violence specification dismissed can decide registration and gun rights more than any sentence.

  • The plea agreement. It can bar a punitive discharge and set what happens with separation and retirement.

I've taken 250+ courts martial to verdict. The consequences that last are usually decided before the sentence is read.

If you're under investigation, you can decline the interview and ask for a lawyer. You don't need to wait for charges to call us: 813-669-3500.