62 Article 87a Courts-Martial in Three Services, 2021–2025
The records hold 62 courts-martial charging Article 87a (resisting apprehension) in the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps from 2021–2025. Only 1 of 15 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (7%), compared with 37% for all courts-martial in those years.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 6 min read
Trends › By Offense › Article 87a › Across the services
Short answer: The records hold 62 courts-martial charging Article 87a (resisting apprehension) in the Army, Air Force, Navy, and Marine Corps from 2021–2025. Only 1 of 15 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (7%), compared with 37% for all courts-martial in those years. These cases were contested less often than courts-martial overall: 25% compared with 35%.
One Full Acquittal in 15 Contested Cases
Across the services, 15 contested Article 87a cases reached a verdict, and 1 ended with the accused acquitted of all charges. In the Army, that was 1 of 7. In the Navy-Marine Corps, 0 of 5 contested cases ended in a full acquittal.
Air Force records rarely list the charges in a case that ends in a full acquittal, so no Air Force acquittal rate is given for this offense. The counts are small in every service, and a single case can change a percentage by a large amount.
| Service | Contested share | Cases with a plea recorded | Full acquittal (contested, verdict reached) | Contested cases with a verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 23% | 31 | 1 of 7 | 7 |
| Air Force | 23% | 13 | — | — |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 29% | 17 | 0 of 5 | 5 |
Guilty Pleas in Most Cases
A contested case is one where the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, either by a not-guilty plea or a mixed plea. The Navy-Marine Corps contested share was 29% of 17 cases with a plea recorded. The Army and the Air Force each had a contested share of 23%, out of 31 and 13 cases.
Overall, 25% of these cases were contested, lower than the 35% for all courts-martial in the same years.
Longer Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps
The Navy-Marine Corps median confinement was 1 year, from 18 convictions, and 39% of those sentences were longer than 1 year. Confinement was part of 94% of them.
The Army median was 6 months from 30 convictions, with 90% including confinement and 17% longer than 1 year. The Air Force median was 4 months from 13 convictions. Every Air Force conviction included confinement, and 15% of the sentences were longer than 1 year.
For comparison, the median confinement for all courts-martial in these years was 6 months. The Navy-Marine Corps median was longer than that, the Army median was the same, and the Air Force median was shorter.
A case charging Article 87a can include other charges. Each sentence here is the adjudged sentence for every charge in the case, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.
| Service | Convictions | Included confinement | Median confinement | More than 1 year |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 30 | 90% | 6 months | 17% |
| Air Force | 13 | 100% | 4 months | 15% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 18 | 94% | 1 year | 39% |
Discharges and Court Level
The Navy-Marine Corps imposed a punitive discharge on 72% of its 18 convicted enlisted members. The Army rate was 63% of 30. The Air Force rate was 25% of 12. A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge.
The Air Force also had the lowest general court-martial share. The Army tried 63% of its cases at a general court-martial, the Navy-Marine Corps 50%, and the Air Force 31%. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence.
| Service | Convicted enlisted members | Punitive discharge | General court-martial share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 30 | 63% | 63% |
| Air Force | 12 | 25% | 31% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 18 | 72% | 50% |
Case Counts by Service and Year
The Army had 31 of the 62 cases. The Navy-Marine Corps had 18, and the Air Force had 13. In each service, Article 87a appeared in 1% of courts-martial.
The yearly total was highest in 2021, with 22 cases. It was 8 in 2022, 11 in 2023, 14 in 2024, and 7 in 2025. The Army count was 12 in 2021 and 8 in 2024. No service had more than 6 cases in any other year.
| Year | Army | Air Force | Navy-Marine Corps |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 12 | 4 | 6 |
| 2022 | 3 | 2 | 3 |
| 2023 | 5 | 4 | 2 |
| 2024 | 8 | 1 | 5 |
| 2025 | 3 | 2 | 2 |
Rank of the Accused
All 18 Navy-Marine Corps accused were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4). In the Army, 71% of the 31 accused were junior enlisted and 29% were NCOs (E-5 to E-9). In the Air Force, 69% of 13 were junior enlisted, 23% were NCOs, and 8% were officers.
No Army or Navy-Marine Corps officers appear in these cases. Officers appear only in the Air Force group, at 8%.
| Service | Cases with rank | Junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4) | NCOs (E-5 to E-9) | Officers |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 31 | 71% | 29% | 0% |
| Air Force | 13 | 69% | 23% | 8% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 18 | 100% | 0% | 0% |
The Rule Changes in These Years
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.
Both rules turn on the offense date. These records give only the trial date, so cases tried in 2024 and 2025 can fall under either the old rules or the new ones.
| Service | Cases charging Article 87a | Share of that service's cases |
|---|---|---|
| Army | 31 | 1% |
| Air Force | 13 | 1% |
| Navy-Marine Corps | 18 | 1% |
What the Records Do Not Include
The records do not describe the circumstances of the apprehension, the evidence, or any plea terms. They cover only cases tried by court-martial, not nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Courts-martial in all three service groups with trial dates in 2021–2025 that charged Article 87a (62 cases). Coast Guard cases are not included.
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
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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.