How Army Obstruction Cases Ended in 2021

Trends › By Offense › Article 131b › Army, 2021

Based on 25 cases · 2021 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Other Charges in Every Case

Article 131b was the only charge in 0 of the 25 cases. Article 128 (assault) was charged in 11 cases, Article 134 (general article) in 10, and Article 120 (sexual assault) in 8. Article 92 (orders violation) and Article 107 (false official statement) were charged in 7 each.

A sentence covers every charge in a case. The sentences below therefore cover these other offenses as well as the obstruction charge. The records do not divide a sentence among articles.

Median Confinement of 9 Months

Of 23 convictions, 20 included confinement. The median confinement was 9 months. A quarter of the sentences were 2.1 years or longer.

Sentences longer than one year were 7 of 23 convictions (30%), compared with 26% across the Army. Sentences of 6 months to 1 year were 6 convictions (26%), compared with 17% Army-wide. Sentences under 6 months were less common here: 30%, compared with 37%. Only 3 convictions had no confinement.

These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Contested Cases and Partial Acquittals

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. There were 10 contested cases and 15 guilty pleas. The contested share was 40%, compared with 36% for the Army overall.

All 10 contested cases reached a verdict. 2 ended in a full acquittal. 6 (60%) ended in a partial acquittal: not guilty of at least one charge or specification, but guilty of another. Army findings are recorded charge by charge, so partial acquittals are common in Army records.

Of the 15 guilty pleas, 14 are recorded with a plea agreement and 1 has no entry. Army records show that an agreement existed, not its terms.

Who Decided Guilt?

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. Members decided 20% of cases with the forum listed: 4 by enlisted panels and 1 by an officer panel. A judge alone decided the other 20. In contested cases, members decided 5 of 10 (50%).

Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so this split mostly follows the number of contested cases.

The accused chooses the forum, so cases decided by members and by a judge alone differ. The records cannot show how a case would have ended before the other forum.

Most Cases Were General Courts-Martial

A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial can impose no more than one year of confinement and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. Of these 25 cases, 20 were general courts-martial (80%) and 5 were special courts-martial.

Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. All 7 convictions with sentences longer than one year therefore came from general courts-martial.

Fewer Punitive Discharges Than Army-Wide

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct discharge or a dishonorable discharge. A punitive discharge followed 59% of enlisted convictions: 10 bad-conduct discharges and 3 dishonorable discharges. Across all Army cases in 2021, the share was 70%.

The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was sentenced to dismissal. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

The number of enlisted convictions is small. A difference of a few cases would change the 59% share by several points.

More NCOs Than Junior Enlisted Members

NCOs were 52% of the accused, junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) were 44%, and officers were 4%. Across all Army cases in 2021, junior enlisted members were 58%, so this group was more senior.

Joint Base Lewis-McChord had 4 of these cases. Fort Irwin, Fort Riley, Fort Bragg, and Fort Bliss had 2 each. Together these installations had 48% of the 25 cases. Counts this small do not show a pattern at any one installation.

What the Records Do Not Show

These cases were tried from January 2021 through November 2021. The services were required to begin publishing trial records under Article 140a by December 2020. Army records in this data are sparse before 2021, so there is no earlier year to compare.

The records list trial dates, not offense dates. They do not show the evidence or the terms of plea agreements. They do not include obstruction handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Obstruction of Justice: Federal Sentences vs. Army Courts-Martial

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.