§2A1.5 Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2017
In fiscal year 2017, the median prison term was 300 months for people convicted at trial under §2A1.5, "Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder," and 96 months for people who pleaded guilty. The sheet counts 49 people in all, with a median of 108 months (9 years). The trial group had 10 people,
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In brief: In fiscal year 2017, the median prison term was 300 months for people convicted at trial under §2A1.5, "Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder," and 96 months for people who pleaded guilty. The sheet counts 49 people in all, with a median of 108 months (9 years). The trial group had 10 people, so that figure rests on a small number.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 49 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017. Acquittals and dismissals come from a second source, the Federal Judicial Center's records of 753,808 federal defendants whose cases ended 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.
Pleas, Trials, and Prison Terms
Of the 49 people sentenced, 39 (80%) pleaded guilty and 10 went to trial and were convicted. Guilty pleas were 83% of cases in all years of data for this guideline, so 2017 is lower than that.
Prison terms differed by how the case ended. After a guilty plea the median was 96 months, and after a trial it was 300 months. The records do not say why the medians differ, and the groups are not equal in size: 39 people and 10 people.
Written plea agreements covered 92% of the guilty pleas. Straight pleas, with no agreement, made up 8%.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 38 | 120 months | 87% |
| 2017 | 49 | 108 months | 80% |
| 2018 | 24 | 120 months | 79% |
| 2019 | 46 | 124.7 months | 74% |
| 2020 | 34 | 120 months | 94% |
| 2021 | 22 | 144 months | 86% |
| 2022 | 27 | 120 months | 89% |
| 2023 | 23 | 78 months | 96% |
| 2024 | 43 | 120 months | 81% |
| 2025 | 33 | 106 months | 76% |
All 49 People Went to Prison
The overall median was 108 months. The lowest-sentenced quarter of the group received 72 months or less, and the highest-sentenced quarter received 180 months or more.
For comparison, the median over fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline is 120 months. In fiscal year 2017 as a whole, across every guideline, the median was 24 months.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 10 people (20%). That is a floor the law sets for the offense, whatever the range says.
Supervised Release, Including for Life
Every person in the group was ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. Supervised release for life went to 4 people (8%).
Fines were ordered for 2 people (4%) and restitution for 7 (14%).
The Guideline Range
Sentences matched the calculated range in 10 cases (20%). Prosecutors asked for a below-range sentence in 28 cases (57%), and 11 more (22%) were below the range with no request. No sentence was above the range.
Over all years under this guideline, 30% of sentences were within the range, while across all guidelines in fiscal year 2017 the share was 49%.
Criminal history category I, the lowest, covered 24% of the group, and category VI, the highest, covered 27%. Court-martial files carry no such field.
Fiscal Years 2016 and 2018
The year began October 1, 2016 and ended September 30, 2017. In fiscal year 2016 the guideline covered 38 people, with a median of 120 months and 16% within the range. In fiscal year 2018 it covered 24 people, with a median of 120 months and 50% within the range.
All 49 cases were in the Commission's Murder category. Because the crosswalk pairs this guideline with no court-martial article, nothing here compares federal and military outcomes.
What Is Missing
Only convictions with a sentence are counted. A person acquitted at trial or whose case was dismissed is not in these numbers, and the prison terms shown are the ones imposed rather than time served.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2017 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.5 (49), U.S. Sentencing Commission individual data files. The primary guideline is the one that set the offense level for the most serious count.
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
No parole in federal prison; credit for good conduct. Federal prison has no parole for crimes committed on or after November 1, 1987. A federal prisoner can earn up to 54 days of good conduct credit for each year of the sentence the judge imposed, which is about 15%. Some federal prisoners can also earn First Step Act time credits, but many offenses make a person ineligible. The numbers in this post are the sentences judges imposed, not the time people actually served.
Federal supervised release. Most federal prison sentences are followed by a term of supervised release that the judge sets as part of the sentence. A person who violates it can be sent back to prison. A court-martial cannot sentence anyone to supervision after release. Military parole and mandatory supervised release are decided later by a board, not by the judge at trial.
Who decides the sentence, and under what rules. Federal judges sentence every federal case. They must calculate the Sentencing Guidelines range, which is advisory, and must impose any mandatory minimum the statute requires unless an exception applies. In courts-martial, the accused could choose sentencing by members until the rules changed. For cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense committed after December 27, 2023, a military judge sentences alone, within sentencing parameters. Courts-martial tried in 2024 and later include both old-rule and new-rule cases, and the data cannot tell them apart.
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.
How life sentences and "time served" are counted. In the federal numbers, a life sentence is counted as 470 months, and any other sentence longer than 470 months is counted as just under 470 months. A sentence of "time served" is counted as one day (0.03 months). Averages are affected by these rules; medians much less.
Mandatory minimum sentences. Many federal statutes on drugs, images of child exploitation, child sex abuse, and firearms carry mandatory minimum prison terms. The UCMJ has mandatory minimums only for a few offenses (a dishonorable discharge or dismissal for rape and sexual assault, and life for premeditated murder). Federal sentences for these offenses are partly set by Congress, not by the judge.
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)
- §2A1.5 Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- §2A1.5 Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2016 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A1.5 Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range
- Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress
- 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.