When Article 107 and Article 80 Are Charged Together, How Do Cases End?
From 2013 to 2026, only 35 Army, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial charged an attempt under Article 80 together with a false official statement under Article 107. Of convicted enlisted members, 78% received a punitive discharge, compared with 60% across all Article 107 cases.
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Trends › By Offense › Article 107 › With Article 80
Short answer: From 2013 to 2026, only 35 Army, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial charged an attempt under Article 80 together with a false official statement under Article 107. Of convicted enlisted members, 78% received a punitive discharge, compared with 60% across all Article 107 cases. The median confinement was 9 months, compared with 6 months.
Punitive Discharges in Most Enlisted Convictions
Of enlisted convictions in this pairing, 78% included a punitive discharge: 15 bad-conduct discharges and 10 dishonorable discharges. For Article 107 cases as a whole, the rate was 60%. For enlisted members, a punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. For officers, the equivalent is dismissal.
The records include 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, and neither was dismissed. A sentence with no punitive discharge can still be followed by an administrative separation. These records do not track administrative separation.
Almost Every Conviction Included Confinement
Of the 34 convictions, 91% included confinement. The median confinement was 9 months, longer than the 6-month median for Article 107 cases overall. A quarter of terms were 2.7 years or more. These are adjudged sentences: the sentence imposed at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
Only 9% of convictions had no confinement, compared with 23% in the broader Article 107 group. Of 34 convictions, 14 (41%) carried more than one year, compared with 18%. Terms of 5 years or more made up 18%, compared with 5%. Terms under 6 months made up 24% of convictions, compared with 38%. Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 26%, compared with 22%.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Army, Navy, and Marine Corps cases charging Article 107 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 3 | 9% | 23% |
| Under 6 months | 8 | 24% | 38% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 9 | 26% | 22% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 8 | 24% | 12% |
| 5 years or more | 6 | 18% | 5% |
Other Charges in These Cases
Article 80 covers attempts to commit another offense. Besides the 2 paired articles, Article 128 (assault) was charged in 12 of the 35 cases, Article 120 (sexual assault) in 10, Article 121 (larceny) in 9, and Article 134 (general article) in 8.
A sentence covers every charge in a case. The confinement figures here include these other charges as well as the attempt and the false statement.
Pleas and Verdicts
Of the 31 records listing a plea, 19 were guilty pleas and 12 were contested. A contested case is one with a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share was 39%, slightly higher than the 34% for Article 107 cases overall.
Only 1 of the 12 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal. That rate, 8%, was lower than the 15% across Article 107 cases. Another 6 ended in a partial acquittal, with the accused found not guilty of some charges and guilty of others. The group is small, so 1 verdict changes these rates by a large amount.
Court Levels
General courts-martial made up 20 of the 35 cases (57%), compared with 43% across Article 107 cases. Their median confinement was 2.5 years, and 47% were contested. The 15 special courts-martial, which are limited to one year, had a median of 6 months, and 25% were contested.
Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial can adjudge a bad-conduct discharge.
Rank of the Accused
Junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) made up 51% of the accused, NCOs 43%, and officers 6%. That was about the same as the 49% junior enlisted share across Article 107 cases. Among the 35 cases, 20 were general courts-martial and 15 were special courts-martial. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge or dismissal.
Years and Installations
The cases run from June 2013 to September 2026. No year had more than 8 cases, and the year with 8 was 2021. Years with 3 or 4 cases were 2014, 2015, 2017, 2020, and 2022. The 2026 count of 1 covers a partial year.
Norfolk, Virginia tried 5 cases. Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay, Fort Bliss, and San Diego, California tried 3 each, and Parris Island, South Carolina tried 2. Together these installations account for 46% of the cases. Counts this small say little about any one installation.
Rule Changes and Missing Information
The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It brought fixed panel sizes and written plea agreements. For offenses after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records give trial dates, not offense dates. They cannot show which rules applied or whether any change affected these numbers.
The records also do not include the evidence, the plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, or administrative separations.
For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 107 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Army, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial that charged both Article 107 and Article 80 (35 cases). Air Force cases are left out because Air Force records rarely list the charges in acquittals.
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
- Article 107 (False Official Statements): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Article 80 (Attempts): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- When Article 107 and Article 121 Are Charged Together, How Do Cases End?
- When Article 107 and Article 92 Are Charged Together, How Do Cases End?
- Articles 107 and 128 in the Same Case: What the Records Show
- Army Article 107 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025
- Fewer or More? False Official Statement Charges at Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025
- Article 107 explained on the law firm's website
- 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.