Guilty Pleas in Army Conspiracy Cases: How Often, and What Came Next

Trends › By Offense › Article 81 › Guilty Pleas in Army Conspiracy Cases: H

Based on 68 cases · 2021–2025 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Conspiracy Almost Always Had a Partner Charge

A conspiracy is an agreement with at least one other person to commit an offense, plus an act toward it. The agreement always concerns some other crime. Article 81 was the only charge in 8 of the 68 cases.

Drug offenses under Article 112a were the most common other charge, in 24 cases. Article 121 (larceny) appeared in 21 cases and Article 92 (orders violation) in 16. Article 131b (obstruction) and Article 107 (false official statement) appeared in 10 cases each.

Discharges Came More Often Than Average

Of 67 convicted enlisted members, 56 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (84%). Across all Army guilty pleas in those years, the share was 75%. Of the 56 discharges, 10 were dishonorable.

The group included 1 convicted officer or warrant officer, who was dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. These records do not track administrative separations.

Confinement Close to the Army Median

Confinement was part of 59 of the 68 sentences (87%). The median confinement was 4 months, compared with 5 months across Army guilty pleas. A quarter of sentences were 1 year or longer, and 1 was a life sentence.

These are adjudged sentences: the sentence the court announced, before any cap from a plea agreement, clemency, or appeal. Each sentence covers every charge in the case, not the conspiracy charge alone.

The Spread of Sentence Lengths

Most sentences were under 1 year. Terms under 6 months made up 47% of convictions, compared with 44% across Army guilty pleas. Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 25%, compared with 18%. No confinement was adjudged in 9 convictions (13%), about the same as the 14% for the wider group.

Sentences longer than one year were less common: 10 of 68 convictions (15%), compared with 24%. Of those 10, 7 were between 1 and 5 years and 3 were 5 years or more.

General Versus Special Courts-Martial

General courts-martial heard 43 of the 67 cases with a court level listed (64%), compared with 68% across all Army guilty pleas. Special courts-martial heard 24 cases. The court level is not listed for 1 case.

At general courts-martial, 88% of convictions included confinement, and the median was 6 months. At special courts-martial, 83% did, and the median was 4 months. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge.

Rank of the Accused and Who Decided

Of the accused, 45 were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 22 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 was an officer or warrant officer. Across all Army guilty pleas, 60% were junior enlisted. This group was more junior than that.

A military judge alone decided all 68 cases. No case went to a panel of members. Most judge-alone cases are guilty pleas, so this result follows from the fact that every case here was a guilty plea.

Cases by Year and Installation

The cases were tried from February 2021 through July 2025. There were 19 cases in 2021, 25 in 2022, 4 in 2023, 11 in 2024, and 9 in 2025.

Fort Bliss had 14 of the cases, Joint Base Lewis-McChord 9, Fort Hood 7, and Fort Carson and Fort Leonard Wood 6 each. Those five installations had 62% of the 68 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean a base has a problem with conspiracy.

Law Changes Over the Period

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.

The records give trial dates but not offense dates. Trials from 2024 on therefore include cases under both the old and new rules. The data cannot show whether either change affected these outcomes. Army records are sparse before 2021, after Article 140a publication was required by December 2020.

Limits of the Data

Only cases that reached a courtroom are counted. Conspiracies handled by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action do not appear. The records do not describe the evidence or the terms of any plea agreement.

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

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.