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# When Army Accused Plead Guilty to Resisting Apprehension
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-87a-plea-2021-2025/
- Published: 2026-10-28T08:07:24.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T08:05:17.000Z
- Description: The Army records hold 24 guilty-plea courts-martial from 2021–2025 that included Article 87a (resisting apprehension). The median confinement was 5 months, the same as for all Army guilty pleas.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 87a, Army

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 87a](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-87a-courts-martial/) › When Army Accused Plead Guilty to Resist

**Short answer:** The Army records hold 24 guilty-plea courts-martial from 2021–2025 that included Article 87a (resisting apprehension). The median confinement was 5 months, the same as for all Army guilty pleas. A punitive discharge was adjudged for 71% of convicted enlisted members, slightly lower than the 75% across Army guilty pleas.

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

## Resisting Apprehension Was Almost Never the Only Charge

Article 87a covers resisting, fleeing, or breaking away from a lawful apprehension. The apprehension must be made by someone authorized to make it, and the records do not say who that was in any case. In these Army guilty pleas, Article 87a was the only charge in 1 of 24 cases. Every other case included at least one more charge.

Assault under Article 128 was the most common other charge, in 14 cases. Article 134 (the general article) and Article 90 (disobeying an officer) each appeared in 8 cases, Article 92 (orders violation) in 6, and Article 115 (communicating threats) in 5\. Sentences cover every charge, so the outcomes below describe these combined cases.

## Confinement in All but 1 Case

Of 24 convictions, 23 included confinement. The median confinement was 5 months, the same as for all Army guilty pleas in those years. A quarter of terms were 1 year or longer, and 1 was a life sentence.

The 1 case without confinement was 4% of convictions, compared with 14% across Army guilty pleas. Confinement was more common here than in Army guilty pleas generally. These are adjudged sentences, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

## Sentence Lengths Compared

Terms under 6 months made up 14 convictions (58%), compared with 44% across Army guilty pleas. Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 5 convictions (21%), about the same as the 18% for the wider group.

Longer sentences were less common. Only 4 of 24 convictions (17%) included more than one year, compared with 24% for all Army guilty pleas. Of those, 3 were between 1 and 5 years, and 1 was 5 years or more. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year. A special court-martial is capped at one year.

With only 24 cases, 1 conviction changes each percentage by several points. These percentages are less stable than those for larger groups.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Army guilty pleas in those years |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | ------------------------------------------- |
| No confinement                  | 1           | 4%         | 14%                                         |
| Under 6 months                  | 14          | 58%        | 44%                                         |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 5           | 21%        | 18%                                         |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 3           | 12%        | 17%                                         |
| 5 years or more                 | 1           | 4%         | 6%                                          |

## Discharges for Enlisted Accused

Of 24 convicted enlisted members, 17 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (71%). Of those, 3 were dishonorable. Across all Army guilty pleas in those years, the share was 75%.

A punitive discharge is the most serious form of separation a court-martial can adjudge for an enlisted member. A sentence without one does not rule out a later administrative separation. These records do not track administrative separations.

## Most of the Accused Were Junior Enlisted

The accused were 19 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 5 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 0 officers or warrant officers. Across all Army guilty pleas in those years, junior enlisted members were 60%. This group was more junior.

General courts-martial, the level that can impose long confinement and a dishonorable discharge, heard 14 of the 23 cases with a court level listed (61%). The court level is not listed for 1 case. Special courts-martial heard the rest. No officers were in this group, so there are no dismissals.

## Forum

A military judge alone decided guilt in all 24 cases with the forum listed (100%). There were 0 enlisted panels and 0 officer panels. Most guilty pleas are decided by a military judge alone.

Army records show whether a plea agreement existed but not its terms. Any cap an agreement placed on the sentence does not appear in these figures.

## Years and Installations

The cases were tried from March 2021 to November 2025\. There were 9 in 2021, 3 in 2022, 3 in 2023, 6 in 2024, and 3 in 2025.

Vilseck (Europe) had the most cases, with 4\. Fort Benning, Fort Bliss, and Fort Bragg had 3 each, and Fort Irwin had 2\. Those five installations had 62% of the 24 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean a base has a problem with this offense.

## Law Changes During the Period

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters.

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

## What the Records Do Not Show

Incidents resolved through nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not in these records. The records also do not describe the apprehension, the evidence, or the plea terms.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/).

### How We Counted

Army courts-martial tried 2021–2025: where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 87a (resisting apprehension) (24 cases), compared with all Army guilty pleas in those years.

Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.

## Related Analysis

- [Article 87a (Resisting Apprehension, Numbered Since 2019): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-87a-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [Sentences](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/sentences/) (hub)
- [Fewer or More? Resisting Apprehension Charges at Army Courts-Martial, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-87a-trend-2021-2025/)
- [What Sentence Follows an Army Resisting Apprehension Conviction?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-87a-sent-2021-2025/)
- [Pleading Guilty to Article 87a in the Air Force: What Sentences Followed?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/air-force-article-87a-plea-2016-2025/) (another service)
- [Pleading Guilty to Article 87a in the Navy-Marine Corps: What Sentences Followed?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-87a-plea-2017-2025/) (another service)
- [Guilty Pleas in Army Child Endangerment Cases: How Often, and What Came Next](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-119b-plea-2021-2025/)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members)

**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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.