Federal Murder Sentences in the Eastern District of North Carolina, FY2016–2025
All 18 people sentenced for murder offenses in the Eastern District of North Carolina in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term. The median was 162 months (13.5 years), which is lower than the 240 months for all 94 federal districts. 3 people received a life sentence.
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In brief: All 18 people sentenced for murder offenses in the Eastern District of North Carolina in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 received a prison term. The median was 162 months (13.5 years), which is lower than the 240 months for all 94 federal districts. 3 people received a life sentence.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 18 people sentenced in federal court in fiscal years 2016 to 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 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.
Prison Terms for Every Person Sentenced
None of the 18 people received probation only. A quarter received 240 months or more, and a quarter received 120 months or less. For all districts, the Commission counts 3,754 people sentenced for murder offenses, and more than 99% were sent to prison.
The median for all offenses in this district was 60 months. Murder terms were therefore much longer than the district's usual term, but shorter at the median than the national murder figure.
Plea or Trial: A Large Gap in Prison Terms
15 of the 18 people (83%) pleaded guilty, and 3 were convicted after a trial. For all districts, 78% pleaded guilty. For all offenses in this district, the rate was 98%.
The median prison term was 132 months after a guilty plea and 470 months after a trial. The trial figure is based on only 3 people, so it shows the size of those 3 sentences and not a general pattern. Among guilty pleas, 87% had a written plea agreement and 13% were straight pleas.
Which Murder Guidelines Were Used
Murder is one of the offense types the U.S. Sentencing Commission assigns from a case's primary guideline. The most common here was §2A1.1 (First Degree Murder), for 10 people.
§2A1.5 (Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder) was used for 6, and §2A1.2 (Second Degree Murder) for 2. These 18 cases were less than 1% of the 7,801 people sentenced in the district.
Mandatory Minimums and the Guideline Range
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 5 of the 18 people (28%).
Against the guideline range, 56% (10) were sentenced within it. 28% (5) were below it at the government's request, and 17% (3) were below it without a government request. None were above it. For all districts, 39% of murder sentences were within the range, and for all offenses in this district, 56% were.
Supervised Release, Money Orders, and Criminal History
All 18 people (100%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 1 (6%), and restitution for 2 (11%).
In criminal history, 22% were in category I, the lowest, and 33% in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field, so the measure has no military counterpart.
Cases by Fiscal Year
Fiscal years 2016 to 2019 had 8 people, and fiscal years 2020 to 2025 had 10. Fiscal years 2020 and 2023 each had 4, the most in any year, and the table lists no cases for fiscal years 2021 and 2025.
The yearly medians range from 108 months to 355 months. Because each year has 1 to 4 people, those medians reflect individual cases, and no trend can be drawn.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 3 | 108 months | 3 of 3 |
| 2017 | 2 | 150 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2018 | 2 | 164.5 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2019 | 1 | 240 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2020 | 4 | 355 months | 2 of 4 |
| 2022 | 1 | 120 months | 0 of 1 |
| 2023 | 4 | 120.5 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2024 | 1 | 240 months | 1 of 1 |
Limits on What This Shows
Only people who were convicted and sentenced appear here. Acquittals and dismissals do not, and the prison terms shown were imposed rather than served.
4 military installations lie in this district, and their courts-martial are held in military courts. Nothing in these records ties any of them to these federal cases.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Eastern District of North Carolina (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "N Carolina East") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Murder" (18). Offense types are the Commission's OFFGUIDE categories.
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)
- Federal Sentences in the Eastern District of North Carolina, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Eastern District of North Carolina, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Eastern District of North Carolina, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Other Offense Sentences in the Eastern District of North Carolina, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Eastern District of North Carolina, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- 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.