> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # §2A1.5 Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2025 - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a1-5-conspiracy-or-solicitation-to-commit-murder-fy2025/ - Published: 2026-11-04T10:29:40.000Z - Updated: 2026-11-04T10:29:40.000Z - Description: In fiscal year 2025, 33 people were sentenced in federal court under §2A1.5, "Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder." People who pleaded guilty had a median prison term of 77 months, and the 8 people convicted at trial had a median of 180 months. The median for the whole group was 106 months ( - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [§2A1.5 Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a1-5-conspiracy-or-solicitation-to-commit-murder/) › §2A1.5: FY2025 **In brief:** In fiscal year 2025, 33 people were sentenced in federal court under §2A1.5, "Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder." People who pleaded guilty had a median prison term of 77 months, and the 8 people convicted at trial had a median of 180 months. The median for the whole group was 106 months (8.8 years). Updated November 4, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 33 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025\. 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) series, which builds on [Military Moves Toward Sentencing Guidelines to Mirror the Federal System](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/). How the numbers were built: [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/). ## Plea and Trial Sentences Of the 33 people, 25 (76%) pleaded guilty and 8 were convicted after a trial. The guilty plea share is lower than the 83% across all years of this guideline and lower than the 98% for every guideline in fiscal year 2025. The median prison term was 77 months after a guilty plea and 180 months after a trial. The records do not say why the figures differ, and the trial group is small. Among the guilty pleas, 96% had a written plea agreement, and 4% were straight pleas. ## The Overall Median Everyone in the group (100%) received a prison term, and 1 person received a life sentence. The median was 106 months. A quarter received 60 months or less, and a quarter received 132 months or more. The median for all fiscal years 2016 to 2025 under this guideline is 120 months. The year before, 2024, had a median of 120 months. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2025, the median was 24 months. A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 3 of the 33 people (9%). | 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% | ## Position Against the Guideline Range The Guidelines Manual calculates a range for each case. For 10 people (30%), the sentence was within it. For 17 (52%), the sentence was below the range at the government's request. For 6 (18%), it was below the range without a request. No sentence was above the range. The 30% within the range equals the figure for all years of this guideline. For all guidelines in fiscal year 2025, the figure was 51%. ## After Prison and Other Orders All 33 people were ordered to serve supervised release, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 3 people (9%), and restitution for 3 (9%). Criminal history category I, the lowest, covered 42% of the group. Category VI, the highest, covered 6%. Court-martial files have no such field. ## Dates and Context Fiscal year 2025 ran from October 1, 2024 to September 30, 2025\. In the previous year, 43 people were sentenced under this guideline, and 42% of sentences were within the range. The 33 people in 2025 are fewer than in 2024. The Commission filed these 33 cases under Murder. The approved crosswalk has no court-martial counterpart for this guideline, so the numbers stand on their own. ## Limits of the Records Only people who were convicted and sentenced are in the data. Acquittals and dismissals are not. Terms shown are imposed terms, not time served, and a group of 33 is too small to show a trend in one year. ### How We Counted Everyone sentenced in federal court in fiscal year 2025 whose primary sentencing guideline was §2A1.5 (33), 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](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/military-sentencing-guidelines-federal-system/) (the background article) - [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) (all federal posts) - [How the Federal Comparison Data Was Built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-data-methodology/) (sources and method) - [§2A1.5 Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a1-5-conspiracy-or-solicitation-to-commit-murder/) (overview) - [§2A1.5 Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder: Federal Sentences, Fiscal Year 2024](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-guideline-2a1-5-conspiracy-or-solicitation-to-commit-murder-fy2024/) (previous or next fiscal year) - [How Often Federal Judges Sentence Outside the Guideline Range](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-sentences-outside-guideline-range/) - [Mandatory Minimums: How Many Federal Sentences Are Set by Congress](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-mandatory-minimum-sentences/) - [U.S. Sentencing Commission, Individual Offender Datafiles](https://www.ussc.gov/research/datafiles/commission-datafiles?ref=bodiesburied.com) (source) - [Federal Judicial Center, Integrated Database (criminal defendants)](https://www.fjc.gov/research/idb?ref=bodiesburied.com) (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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.