Aggravated Assault Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Army Courts-Martial
Of 18 contested Army courts-martial for aggravated assault that reached a verdict from 2021 to 2025, 0 ended in a full acquittal, and 12 (67%) ended in a partial acquittal. In federal assault trials during fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 84 of 229 ended in an acquittal (37%). The Army and federal counts
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In brief: Of 18 contested Army courts-martial for aggravated assault that reached a verdict from 2021 to 2025, 0 ended in a full acquittal, and 12 (67%) ended in a partial acquittal. In federal assault trials during fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 84 of 229 ended in an acquittal (37%). The Army and federal counts are not built the same way.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 5,508 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, compared with court-martial results from this site's Military Trial Results data (updated November 2, 2026). The series also draws on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 659,036 people sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. It is part of the Federal Prosecution Analysis series, which builds on Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System. How the numbers were built: How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built.
Contested Army Cases That Reached a Verdict
The Army records list 18 courts-martial charging aggravated assault under Article 128 that were contested and reached a verdict. Army records begin in 2020 and 2021, so the trial dates run from 2021 to 2025.
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. None of the 18 ended in a full acquittal. A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. None of the 18 ended in a full acquittal. A partial acquittal, meaning not guilty of at least one charge but guilty of another, occurred in 12 cases (67%).
| Year | Army: full acquittals of contested cases |
|---|---|
| 2021 | 0 of 3 |
| 2022 | 0 of 5 |
| 2023 | 0 of 4 |
| 2024 | 0 of 4 |
| 2025 | 0 of 2 |
Who Decided Guilt in the Army Cases
Judges alone decided 8 of the 18 cases, and none ended in a full acquittal. Members decided 10, and none of those did either. The records also list 10 cases under enlisted members.
The yearly counts are small: 3 cases in 2021, 5 in 2022, 4 in 2023, 4 in 2024, and 2 in 2025. No year had a full acquittal.
The Federal Comparison Group
The Federal Judicial Center counted 5,508 defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 113, which covers assaults within federal jurisdiction. Their cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
Of those, 3,910 (71%) pleaded guilty, 1,369 (25%) had their cases dismissed, and 229 (4%) went to trial. A conviction, by plea or at trial, came in 4,055 cases (74%).
Federal Trial Acquittals
Of the 229 federal trials, 84 ended in an acquittal (37%). Juries heard 177 trials, with 62 acquittals (35%). A judge alone heard 52 trials, with 22 acquittals (42%).
Acquittals at federal trials were therefore more common than full acquittals in the Army cases, where there were none. The comparison has limits, explained below.
Why the Army and Federal Counts Differ
The Army count is of contested cases that reached a verdict, and it is limited to one offense. The federal count is of trials, and it includes every assault charged under section 113.
The Army group also includes partial acquittals as a separate category. Federal case data does not report partial acquittals separately.
The Army figures cover 5 years, and the federal figures cover 10 fiscal years. A federal felony also needs a grand jury indictment, while a court-martial has no grand jury.
What the Records Cannot Show
With 18 cases, a single case would change the percentages. The records do not show the strength of the evidence, the charges before trial, or why charges were dropped before a verdict.
They also cannot show whether the Army result would continue in later years.
A partial acquittal is still a conviction on at least one charge. The records here do not break out sentences for those cases. The 12 partial acquittals are a count of verdicts, not a measure of what happened to each accused afterward.
How We Counted
Army courts-martial charging aggravated assault (Article 128) with trial dates in 2016 to 2025 that were contested and reached a verdict (18). Federal: defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 113 (assaults within federal jurisdiction) whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 (5,508), Federal Judicial Center.
Federal fiscal years run from October 1 to September 30. No person, judge, or lawyer is identified in any of these records.
What to Keep in Mind
Who is in each set of numbers. The federal sentencing numbers come from the U.S. Sentencing Commission. They count only people who were convicted and sentenced in federal district court. People whose cases were dismissed or who were acquitted are not in them. The military numbers come from court-martial results, which include acquittals. To compare acquittal or dismissal rates, the federal side uses a different source: the Federal Judicial Center's case data, which counts every defendant whose case ended.
Different cases reach each system. Federal prosecutors bring a narrow set of cases. In fiscal year 2024, immigration and drug trafficking cases were 59% of everyone sentenced in federal court (36,664 of 61,678). Many crimes that the military prosecutes, such as most assaults, most sexual assaults between adults, and drug use, are usually state crimes for civilians and reach federal court only in special situations, such as on federal land or in Indian Country. A federal case and a court-martial for the same crime can involve different kinds of facts.
Time periods. Federal numbers are by federal fiscal year (October 1 to September 30), based on the sentencing date. The military numbers are by trial date. Neither source has the date of the offense, so a change in law shows up in either data set gradually.
Offense categories do not line up exactly. Each comparison uses a federal offense group chosen to match the military article as closely as possible (see the crosswalk). Some matches are close; others are partial. The post says which federal guideline or statute was used and why it is not an exact match.
How "plea" and "trial" are counted. In the federal sentencing numbers, "trial" means the person was convicted after a trial, including people who pleaded guilty to some counts and went to trial on others. People acquitted at trial are not in these numbers at all (see "Who is in each set of numbers"). In the federal case data, the trial rate counts both convictions and acquittals at trial among all defendants whose cases ended, including dismissed cases. Military numbers count contested cases that reached a verdict. These denominators are not the same, and each post states the one it uses.
Related Analysis
- Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System (the background article)
- Federal Prosecution Analysis (all federal posts)
- How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built (sources and method)
- Aggravated Assault: Federal Sentences vs. Article 128 Courts-Martial, 2016–2025 (overview)
- Aggravated Assault Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Marine Corps Courts-Martial
- Aggravated Assault Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Navy Courts-Martial
- Aggravated Assault Sentences Since the 2023 Military Sentencing Reform: What the Data Shows So Far
- Aggravated Assault Charges: How Often Federal Trials and Courts-Martial End in Acquittal
- Guilty Pleas in Aggravated Assault Cases: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial
- Aggravated Assault Convictions of Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4): Courts-Martial Compared With Federal Court
- Army Article 128 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- Article 128 Sentences in the Army: Confinement and Discharges, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Often Are Contested Army Article 128 Cases Acquitted? (court-martial data)
- When Army Accused Plead Guilty to Assault (court-martial data)
- Article 128 (Assault): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Army Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 128 UCMJ: Assault, Aggravated Assault, and Strangulation (law firm reference page)
- Forum Selection (law firm reference page)
- U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles (source)
- Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants) (source)
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.