Murder Charges: How Often Federal Trials and Courts-Martial End in Acquittal
Of 13 contested courts-martial for murder under Article 118 that reached a verdict from 2016 to 2025 (Army, Navy, and Marine Corps), 2 ended in a full acquittal (15%), and 5 (38%) were partial acquittals. In federal court, 14 of 122 murder trials ended in an acquittal (11%), in fiscal years 2016 to
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In brief: Of 13 contested courts-martial for murder under Article 118 that reached a verdict from 2016 to 2025 (Army, Navy, and Marine Corps), 2 ended in a full acquittal (15%), and 5 (38%) were partial acquittals. In federal court, 14 of 122 murder trials ended in an acquittal (11%), in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. These rates are close but count different groups.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 714 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.
Full and Partial Acquittals in Courts-Martial
A court-martial is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The records show 13 contested murder cases that reached a verdict in the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.
2 of the 13 ended in a full acquittal. Another 5 were partial acquittals, meaning not guilty of at least one charge and guilty of another. Federal case data does not report partial acquittals separately, so they have no federal counterpart.
Federal Murder Cases That Ended
The Federal Judicial Center counted 714 defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 1111 whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Of them, 467 pleaded guilty (65%), 125 had their cases dismissed (18%), and 122 went to trial (17%).
Overall, 575 of the 714 (81%) were convicted, by plea or at trial. The dismissals are part of the base for the plea, trial, and conviction shares, and they do not appear in the court-martial count.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 48 | 67% | 10% | 11 | 0 (0%) |
| 2017 | 36 | 75% | 14% | 4 | 0 (0 of 4) |
| 2018 | 50 | 64% | 16% | 10 | 0 (0%) |
| 2019 | 56 | 73% | 11% | 9 | 2 (2 of 9) |
| 2020 | 34 | 68% | 15% | 6 | 2 (2 of 6) |
| 2021 | 51 | 63% | 33% | 2 | 1 (1 of 2) |
| 2022 | 117 | 46% | 38% | 18 | 4 (22%) |
| 2023 | 108 | 69% | 12% | 21 | 0 (0%) |
| 2024 | 117 | 71% | 10% | 22 | 2 (9%) |
| 2025 | 97 | 71% | 9% | 19 | 3 (16%) |
Federal Trial Results
Of the 122 trials, 14 ended in an acquittal (11%). There were 118 jury trials with 10 acquittals (8%). All 4 bench trials, decided by a judge, ended in an acquittal.
The bench trial group is only 4 cases, so it says little about judges in general.
Who Decided Guilt in Courts-Martial
A judge alone decided 3 cases, with no full acquittals. Members decided 4 cases, with 2 full acquittals. Of those, 3 were decided by enlisted members, with 2 full acquittals, and 1 by officer members, with none.
For 6 cases no forum is listed, and none of those ended in a full acquittal. The missing forum limits what can be said about who acquits.
Year by Year
The first table gives each year. Court-martial full acquittals were 0 in every year through 2024, and 2 of 2 in 2025. In federal court, 4 of 18 trials ended in an acquittal in 2022, and none of 21 did in 2023.
Each court-martial year has between 0 and 3 contested cases, so a single year says very little.
| Year | Courts-martial: full acquittals of contested cases | Federal: acquittals of trials |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 0 of 1 | 0 of 11 |
| 2017 | 0 of 0 | 0 of 4 |
| 2018 | 0 of 2 | 0 of 10 |
| 2019 | 0 of 1 | 2 of 9 |
| 2020 | 0 of 0 | 2 of 6 |
| 2021 | 0 of 3 | 1 of 2 |
| 2022 | 0 of 1 | 4 of 18 |
| 2023 | 0 of 1 | 0 of 21 |
| 2024 | 0 of 2 | 2 of 22 |
| 2025 | 2 of 2 | 3 of 19 |
Why the Rates Are Not the Same Measure
The court-martial rate is full acquittals among contested cases that reached a verdict. The federal rate is acquittals among trials, and it leaves out the 125 dismissals. Air Force cases are left out because Air Force records rarely list the charges in acquittals.
A federal felony needs a grand jury indictment, and a court-martial has no grand jury. An Article 32 hearing officer's conclusions are only recommendations.
What the Records Cannot Show
The records do not show the evidence, the charging decisions, or why a verdict was reached. A group of 13 cases is small, and the figures are not a prediction for any case.
How We Counted
Courts-martial: Army, Navy, and Marine Corps courts-martial charging murder (Article 118) with trial dates in 2016 to 2025 that were contested and reached a verdict (13). Federal: defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 1111 whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 (714; 122 trials), Federal Judicial Center, counted as in the federal courts' Table D-4.
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)
- Murder and Manslaughter: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025 (overview)
- Guilty Pleas in Murder Cases: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial
- Murder Convictions of Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4): Courts-Martial Compared With Federal Court
- Murder Convictions of NCOs (E-5 to E-9): Courts-Martial Compared With Federal Court
- Murder: Sentences After a Guilty Plea vs. After Trial, Federal Court and Courts-Martial
- Murder Sentences: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial, 2016–2025
- Murder: Federal Sentences vs. Air Force Courts-Martial
- Is Army Murder Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 118, 2021–2025 (court-martial data)
- Article 118 Sentences in the Air Force: Confinement and Discharges, 2016–2025 (court-martial data)
- How Has Article 118 Changed in Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial Since 2017? (court-martial data)
- How Much Confinement for an Article 118 Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps? (court-martial data)
- Article 118 (Murder): Court-Martial Data and Trends (court-martial data)
- Article 118 UCMJ: Murder (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.