Guilty Pleas in Murder Cases: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial
In federal court, 2,482 of 3,243 people sentenced for murder pleaded guilty (77%), in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Courts-martial charging murder under Article 118 with a plea recorded, trial dates 2016 to 2025, had 19 guilty pleas among 38 cases (50%). Guilty pleas were more common in federal court.
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In brief: In federal court, 2,482 of 3,243 people sentenced for murder pleaded guilty (77%), in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Courts-martial charging murder under Article 118 with a plea recorded, trial dates 2016 to 2025, had 19 guilty pleas among 38 cases (50%). Guilty pleas were more common in federal court.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 3,243 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 and 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). 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.
Court-Martial Pleas in Murder Cases
The records show a plea for 38 courts-martial charging murder. Guilty pleas were 19 (50%), mixed pleas were 1 (3%), and not-guilty pleas were 18 (47%). Another 7 cases have no plea recorded and are not in these percentages.
A mixed plea means guilty to some charges and not guilty to others. This group includes cases that ended in acquittal, because it counts every case with a plea recorded.
Guilty Pleas by Service
The Army had 15 cases with a plea recorded, and 10 were guilty pleas (67%). The Navy had 12, with 6 guilty pleas (50%). The Marine Corps had 1 of 3, and the Air Force had 2 of 8.
Air Force plea information is missing for most trials before 2020. That makes the Air Force row incomplete.
| Service | Cases with a plea recorded | Guilty pleas | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| Army | 15 | 10 | 67% |
| Air Force | 8 | 2 | 2 of 8 |
| Navy | 12 | 6 | 50% |
| Marine Corps | 3 | 1 | 1 of 3 |
Federal Sentencing Data
The Sentencing Commission data covers 3,243 people sentenced under the guideline for first degree murder (§2A1.1) or second degree murder (§2A1.2). Guilty pleas were 2,482 (77%), and 761 people were convicted at trial.
Among the federal guilty pleas, 91% had a written plea agreement, and 8% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Plea Agreements in Courts-Martial
Plea agreement records exist for 16 court-martial guilty pleas. Of those, 15 (94%) had an agreement. The records come mostly from the Army, Navy, and Marine Corps.
The federal and court-martial shares with an agreement are both high. The court-martial figure rests on 16 cases.
A Different Federal Count That Includes Dismissals
The Federal Judicial Center counted 714 defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 1111 whose cases ended in the same fiscal years. Of them, 467 pleaded guilty (65%), 125 had their cases dismissed (18%), and 122 went to trial (17%).
This count starts with every case that ended, so dismissals are in its base. That explains why its plea share is lower than the Sentencing Commission share. Of the 122 trials, 14 ended in an acquittal (11%), and 575 of the 714 (81%) were convicted.
Year by Year
Federal guilty plea shares ranged from 69% in 2017 to 87% in 2021. Court-martial counts are small. The largest year was 2021, with 5 guilty pleas among 9 cases, and 2025 had 5 among 8.
In 2023 there was 1 court-martial case with a plea recorded, and it was not a guilty plea.
| Year | Courts-martial: guilty pleas | Federal: pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1 of 2 (1 of 2) | 78% |
| 2017 | 0 of 2 (0 of 2) | 69% |
| 2018 | 1 of 3 (1 of 3) | 75% |
| 2019 | 1 of 3 (1 of 3) | 77% |
| 2020 | 2 of 2 (2 of 2) | 73% |
| 2021 | 5 of 9 (5 of 9) | 87% |
| 2022 | 3 of 4 (3 of 4) | 84% |
| 2023 | 0 of 1 (0 of 1) | 74% |
| 2024 | 1 of 4 (1 of 4) | 76% |
| 2025 | 5 of 8 (5 of 8) | 74% |
What the Records Cannot Show
The records do not show why a plea was entered, what was offered, or what evidence existed. They also do not show whether cases with no plea recorded would change the percentages. Federal and court-martial counts also differ in who is included, so the comparison is a description and not a measure of fairness or outcome.
How We Counted
Courts-martial: every court-martial charging murder (Article 118) with a trial date in 2016 to 2025 and a plea recorded (38). Federal: people sentenced under guideline §2A1.1 (first degree murder) or §2A1.2 (second degree murder) (3,243, U.S. Sentencing Commission) and defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 1111 whose cases ended (714, Federal Judicial Center), fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
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.
Plea agreements work differently. In federal court, most plea agreements do not bind the judge on the sentence. Since 2019, a military plea agreement can set a minimum and maximum sentence that the military judge must follow if the judge accepts the agreement. The federal numbers count anyone who pleaded guilty, with or without a written agreement.
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)
- Murder Charges: How Often Federal Trials and Courts-Martial End in Acquittal
- 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)
- 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.