When Army Defense Counsel Had 20 or More Prior Cases, Were Contested Cases Acquitted More Often? 2023–2026
Slightly more often. In Army contested cases that reached a verdict, 43% ended in a full acquittal when a defense counsel of record had 20 or more prior cases (35 cases), compared with 40% for the other 339.
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Trends › Counsel Experience › Army, 20+ prior cases
Short answer: Slightly more often. In Army contested cases that reached a verdict, 43% ended in a full acquittal when a defense counsel of record had 20 or more prior cases (35 cases), compared with 40% for the other 339. The group with 20 or more is small, and the records cannot show why the rates differ.
43% Against 40%
374 contested Army cases tried from 2023 to 2026 reached a verdict and list a defense counsel of record. Only 35 of them had a defense counsel with 20 or more prior cases in this data. 43% of those 35 ended in a full acquittal. The other 339 ended in a full acquittal 40% of the time.
A contested case has a not-guilty or mixed plea. A full acquittal is a not-guilty finding on every charge. With 35 cases in the smaller group, a few verdicts either way would change its rate. Case strength, plea offers, and who did the work are not recorded.
| Group | Contested cases | Full acquittal |
|---|---|---|
| 20 or more prior cases | 35 | 43% |
| Fewer than 20 | 339 | 40% |
| Military judge alone: 20 or more | 11 | 27% |
| Military judge alone: fewer than 20 | 123 | 28% |
| Members: 20 or more | 23 | 48% |
| Members: fewer than 20 | 201 | 42% |
Split by Who Decided Guilt
The accused usually chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt. Before a military judge alone, full acquittals were 27% with a defense counsel at 20 or more prior cases (11 cases) and 28% without (123 cases).
Before members, the rates were 48% with a defense counsel at 20 or more (23 cases) and 42% without (201 cases). Members acquitted more often than judges in both groups. Because the accused chooses the forum in most cases, the judge-alone and members groups are not alike.
Experience Defined
Experience here is the number of earlier Army courts-martial in this data where a lawyer was counsel of record, on either side, before the trial date. It counts cases and says nothing about skill. Work from before the records begin is missing.
Records list the team without saying who led, so each case is counted by its most experienced defense counsel of record. No lawyer is rated or ranked here.
Verdicts in Each Band
The 5 to 9 band had the highest full-acquittal rate, 45% of 129 cases. The 20 or more band had 43% of 35, the 10 to 19 band 39% of 138, and the 1 to 4 band 32% of 65.
Partial acquittals, meaning not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another, were common in every band. The 1 to 4 band had the highest rate, 58%. Among the 7 cases with no experienced defense counsel, 1 of 7 ended in a full acquittal and 3 of 7 in a partial acquittal.
These rows describe outcomes. The records do not show the evidence, plea offers, or who did the work, so they cannot show an effect of experience.
| Prior cases (most experienced defense counsel) | Contested cases | Full acquittal | Partial acquittal |
|---|---|---|---|
| No prior cases | 7 | 1 of 7 | 3 of 7 |
| 1 to 4 | 65 | 32% | 58% |
| 5 to 9 | 129 | 45% | 33% |
| 10 to 19 | 138 | 39% | 41% |
| 20 or more | 35 | 43% | 37% |
How Experienced Were Defense Teams?
384 of the 410 contested cases list at least one defense counsel of record, and the median prior-case count of the most experienced defense counsel was 9. The 10 to 19 band was the largest, with 144 cases (38%), followed by the 5 to 9 band with 131 (34%).
66 cases (17%) were in the 1 to 4 band and 36 (9%) in the 20 or more band. 7 cases (2%) had no defense counsel with an earlier case in this data.
| Prior cases (most experienced defense counsel) | Cases | Share |
|---|---|---|
| No prior cases | 7 | 2% |
| 1 to 4 | 66 | 17% |
| 5 to 9 | 131 | 34% |
| 10 to 19 | 144 | 38% |
| 20 or more | 36 | 9% |
Team Size and the Prosecution
Of the 384 cases with a defense counsel listed, 268 named 2 defense counsel of record, 93 named 1, and 23 named 3 or more.
383 cases list lawyers on both sides. The trial counsel had more prior cases than the defense counsel in 195 (51%), and the defense counsel had more in 169 (44%). The rest were tied.
Years Covered and Rule Changes
The 410 cases were tried from January 2023 to September 2026: 147 in 2023, 128 in 2024, 91 in 2025, and 44 in 2026, a partial year. Across them, 40% of decided contested cases ended in a full acquittal (160 of 400).
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 is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Both depend on offense dates, which the records do not give.
Coverage and Limits
Army counsel names are nearly complete from 2021, and the counsel pages start two years later so most lawyers have earlier cases in the data. Name variants are merged as on Learn Your Lawyer. Navy and Marine Corps records list counsel only from mid-2025, mostly by surname, so they are not included.
Cases resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not in the records, and the evidence and plea terms are not described.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Army courts-martial with trial dates in 2023–2026 and a not-guilty or mixed plea (410 cases).
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Counsel Experience (hub)
- Army Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- Do Seasoned Army Prosecutors Win More Contested Cases? Prior Cases and Verdicts, 2023–2026
- Do Seasoned Air Force Prosecutors Win More Contested Cases? Prior Cases and Verdicts, 2020–2026
- When Air Force Defense Counsel Had 20 or More Prior Cases, Were Contested Cases Acquitted More Often? 2020–2026
- Search every case in 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. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.