§2A1.5 Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2019
Under §2A1.5, "Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder," 46 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019, and 12 of them were convicted at trial. The median prison term was 124.7 months (10.4 years). One person received a life sentence.
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In brief: Under §2A1.5, "Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder," 46 people were sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019, and 12 of them were convicted at trial. The median prison term was 124.7 months (10.4 years). One person received a life sentence.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 46 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019. 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.
More Trials Than in Some Other Years
Of the 46 people, 34 (74%) pleaded guilty, and 12 were convicted after a trial. Across fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 83% of people under this guideline pleaded guilty. In fiscal year 2019 across every guideline, 98% did.
Median prison terms were 120 months after a guilty plea and 300 months after a trial. The trial figure covers 12 people. Of the guilty pleas, 79% involved a written agreement, and 21% were straight pleas.
Guilty Pleas Were Less Common Than the All-Years Rate
Nobody in the group received probation only. The median was 124.7 months, which is higher than the 120 months over all years of the guideline. The lowest-sentenced quarter received 80.2 months or less, and the highest-sentenced quarter received 186 months or more. One sentence was life.
For all guidelines in fiscal year 2019, the median prison term was 21 months. A mandatory minimum applied to 8 people (17%).
| 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% |
Where Sentences Fell Against the Range
A sentence within the range was imposed in 20 cases (43%). Below the range at the government's request were 9 (20%), and below the range without a government request were 17 (37%). No sentence was above the range. The range is the one the Guidelines Manual calculates for each case.
Over all years of this guideline, 30% of sentences were within the range, and across every guideline in fiscal year 2019, 51% were. The 43% here is higher than the figure for all years of the guideline and lower than the figure for all guidelines.
Supervised Release and Money Orders
Supervised release applied to 44 people (96%), with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered in 1 case (2%) and restitution in 5 (11%).
Criminal history category I, the lowest, covered 30% of the group, and category VI, the highest, covered 20%. Court-martial files have no field for it.
Supervised release is the period of court supervision that follows prison. The sheet reports it separately from the prison term.
Fiscal Years 2018 and 2020
Fiscal year 2019 ran from October 1, 2018 to September 30, 2019. In 2018, 24 people were sentenced under this guideline, with a median of 120 months and 50% within the range. In 2020, 34 people were sentenced, also with a median of 120 months and 24% within the range.
The Commission put these 46 cases under Murder. No court-martial article is paired with this guideline in the crosswalk, so there is no military comparison here.
Limits
The files leave out acquittals and dismissals. Prison terms are the terms imposed, not the time served, and the records do not give the facts of any case.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2019 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.5 (46), 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 2018 (previous or next fiscal year)
- §2A1.5 Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2020 (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.