Understanding Trends

Do Seasoned Army Prosecutors Win More Contested Cases? Prior Cases and Verdicts, 2023–2026

Not in these records. Army contested cases with a trial counsel of record at 20 or more prior cases ended in a full acquittal 43% of the time (67 cases), compared with 39% for the other 306. Case strength, plea offers, and who did the work are not recorded, so the records cannot show why.

Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 5 min read

Trends › Counsel Experience › Army, 20+ prior cases

Short answer: Not in these records. Army contested cases with a trial counsel of record at 20 or more prior cases ended in a full acquittal 43% of the time (67 cases), compared with 39% for the other 306. Case strength, plea offers, and who did the work are not recorded, so the records cannot show why.

Based on 410 cases · 2023–2026 · Army records · data updated October 24, 2026

Full Acquittals by the Top Trial Counsel's Experience

373 contested Army cases from 2023 to 2026 reached a verdict and list a trial counsel of record. In 67, at least one trial counsel had 20 or more prior cases in this data. Those 67 ended in a full acquittal 43% of the time. The remaining 306 ended in a full acquittal 39% of the time.

A contested case is one where the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge, and a full acquittal is not guilty of every charge. A higher acquittal rate in the 20 or more group does not mean experience caused it. The groups may differ in the kinds of cases they include.

Group	Contested cases	Full acquittal
20 or more prior cases	67	43%
Fewer than 20	306	39%
Military judge alone: 20 or more	22	32%
Military judge alone: fewer than 20	112	27%
Members: 20 or more	39	41%
Members: fewer than 20	184	43%

Who Decided Guilt

In most cases the accused chooses whether a military judge alone or a panel of members decides guilt, so these groups are not alike. In judge-alone cases, the full-acquittal rate was 32% with a trial counsel at 20 or more prior cases (22 cases) and 27% without (112 cases).

In members cases, the order was reversed. The rate was 41% with a trial counsel at 20 or more (39 cases) and 43% without (184 cases). Members cases had higher full-acquittal rates than judge-alone cases in both groups.

Counting a Lawyer's Prior Cases

For each trial, experience is the number of earlier Army courts-martial in this data on which a lawyer had been counsel of record, for either side. It is a count, not a rating of skill, and it omits cases from before the records start.

The records do not name a lead lawyer. Each case is assigned the prior-case count of its most experienced trial counsel of record. No lawyer is rated or ranked on this page.

Results in Each Band

The 10 to 19 band and the 20 or more band had the same full-acquittal rate, 43%, across 133 cases and 67 cases. The 1 to 4 band had 40% of 72 cases. The 5 to 9 band had 34% of 91. The 10 cases with no experienced trial counsel had 30%.

Partial acquittals, where the accused was acquitted of some charges or specifications and convicted of others, ranged from 34% in the 20 or more band to 46% in the 1 to 4 band. The rows show outcomes only. The records do not include the evidence, the plea offers, or how work was shared.

Prior cases (most experienced trial counsel)	Contested cases	Full acquittal	Partial acquittal
No prior cases	10	30%	40%
1 to 4	72	40%	46%
5 to 9	91	34%	43%
10 to 19	133	43%	40%
20 or more	67	43%	34%

Prior-Case Counts Across All Contested Cases

383 of the 410 contested cases list a trial counsel of record. The median prior-case count of the most experienced trial counsel was 10.

135 cases (35%) fell in the 10 to 19 band, 94 (25%) in the 5 to 9 band, 74 (19%) in the 1 to 4 band, and 70 (18%) in the 20 or more band. 10 cases (3%) had no trial counsel of record with an earlier case.

Prior cases (most experienced trial counsel)	Cases	Share
No prior cases	10	3%
1 to 4	74	19%
5 to 9	94	25%
10 to 19	135	35%
20 or more	70	18%

Teams and the Opposing Side

271 of the 383 cases listed 2 trial counsel of record. 65 listed 1, and 47 listed 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 fewer in 169 (44%). The rest were tied.

Time Period and Law Changes

The cases were tried from January 2023 through September 2026. By year: 147 in 2023, 128 in 2024, 91 in 2025, and 44 in 2026, which is a partial year.

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

Coverage and Gaps

Army counsel names are nearly complete from 2021. These pages start two years later, so most lawyers have earlier cases on record. Name variants are merged as on Learn Your Lawyer. Navy and Marine Corps records list counsel only from mid-2025, mostly by surname, and are not included.

The records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms, and cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are not in them.

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

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.