Contested Army Article 131b Cases Decided by Members (A Panel)

Trends › By Offense › Article 131b › Decided by members

Based on 23 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

A High Full-Acquittal Rate

All 23 cases were contested. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, and none of these accused pleaded guilty. Full acquittals came in 43% of the 23 contested cases that reached a verdict, higher than the 28% in all contested Army Article 131b cases.

Another 12 cases ended in a partial acquittal. In a partial acquittal, the accused is found not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. Army results list findings charge by charge, which is why partial acquittals are common in Army records.

Panels Decided Every Case

Enlisted panels heard 17 of the cases and officer panels heard 6. None was decided by a military judge alone.

The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. Because of that choice, cases tried before panels differ from cases tried before a military judge alone. The higher acquittal rate here describes what happened in panel trials. It does not show that the panel caused it.

Confinement for Those Convicted

13 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. 7 of those 13 sentences included confinement (54%). The median confinement was 2.8 years, longer than the 2.1-year median in all contested Army Article 131b cases.

These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. With only 7 sentences that included confinement, the median rests on very few cases, and a single sentence could change it.

Obstruction Charged With Other Offenses

Only 1 of the 23 cases charged Article 131b by itself. Across all contested Army Article 131b cases, 1 of 46 did. Article 120 (sexual assault) was the most common added charge, in 10 cases. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 9, Article 128b (domestic violence) and Article 134 (the general article) in 5 each, and Article 90 (disobeying an officer) in 4.

A court-martial gives one sentence for all the charges in a case. The confinement figures above cover the other charges as well as obstruction, and a sexual assault or domestic violence charge in the same case is part of each sentence.

A Senior Group of Accused

NCOs made up 57% of the accused. Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) and officers each made up 22%. Across all contested Army Article 131b cases, junior enlisted members were 30% of the accused.

20 of the 22 cases with a court level listed were general courts-martial (91%), the same as the 91% in all contested Army Article 131b cases. The court level is not listed for 1 case. A general court-martial can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge or dismissal. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

Trial Years and Installations

The cases run from January 2021 to September 2025: 5 in 2021, 7 in 2022, 4 in 2023, 3 in 2024, and 4 in 2025. Fort Bliss had 5 cases and Fort Bragg had 4. Fort Benning, Fort Stewart, and Fort Knox had 2 each. Those five installations account for 65% of the 23 cases.

Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so these counts are not a measure of obstruction at any base.

Changes in the Rules

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Both rules turn on the offense date. The records give only trial dates, so trials from 2024 on include cases under both sets of rules.

What These Records Leave Out

The records cover courts-martial only. Obstruction handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation is not included. The records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms.

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.