Federal Murder Sentences in the Northern District of Texas, FY2016–2025
In the Northern District of Texas, 31 people were sentenced for murder offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 30 (97%) received a prison term, with a median of 264 months (22 years), and 7 received a life sentence. A mandatory minimum applied to 15 people (48%).
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the Northern District of Texas, FY2016– › Murder: Northern District of Texas
In brief: In the Northern District of Texas, 31 people were sentenced for murder offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 30 (97%) received a prison term, with a median of 264 months (22 years), and 7 received a life sentence. A mandatory minimum applied to 15 people (48%).
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 31 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 and Life Sentences
The U.S. Sentencing Commission's offense type "Murder" includes 31 people in this district over fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 30 of the 31 (97%) were sentenced to prison, and 1 (3%) received probation only.
The median prison term was 264 months. A quarter received 470 months or more, and a quarter received 166.5 months or less. 7 people received a life sentence. The median across all 94 districts was 240 months, so the district's median was higher.
Mandatory Minimums
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 15 of the 31 people (48%). The sheet does not say which of the cases carried the minimum or why.
The guideline most often recorded was §2A1.1 (First Degree Murder), for 21 people. Then came §2A1.2 (Second Degree Murder), for 7 people, §2A1.5 (Conspiracy or Solicitation to Commit Murder), for 2 people, and §2X3.1 (Accessory After the Fact), for 1 person.
Guilty Pleas and Trials
25 of 31 people (81%) pleaded guilty, and 6 were convicted after a trial. Across all districts, 78% pleaded guilty. For all offenses in this district, the rate was 98%, so murder cases here went to trial more often than the district's other cases.
The median prison term was 216 months after a guilty plea and 470 months after a trial. The trial median rests on 6 people. The records cannot show whether the difference comes from the plea itself or from differences between the cases.
Among guilty pleas, 88% had a written plea agreement and 12% were straight pleas with no agreement.
Against the Guideline Range
For all 31 people, 55% (17) were within the guideline range. 26% (8) were below it at the government's request, and 13% (4) were below it without a government request. 6% (2) were above the range.
The share within the range was higher than the 39% across all districts. For all offenses in this district, it was 62%.
Supervised Release, Fines, and History
29 people (94%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. A fine was ordered for 1 (3%) and restitution for 10 (32%).
For criminal history, 58% were in the lowest category and 10% in the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Counts by Year
The district had 5 people in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 26 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. Yearly counts were between 1 and 7 people, and fiscal year 2018 has no row because no one was recorded. Yearly medians run from 180 months to 470 months. With so few people a year, those figures should not be read as a trend.
Murder cases were less than 1% of the 14,591 people sentenced in this district.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1 | 240 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2017 | 2 | 470 months | 0 of 2 |
| 2019 | 2 | 261 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2020 | 4 | 240 months | 3 of 4 |
| 2021 | 4 | 264 months | 4 of 4 |
| 2022 | 6 | 300 months | 6 of 6 |
| 2023 | 4 | 470 months | 3 of 4 |
| 2024 | 7 | 180 months | 6 of 7 |
| 2025 | 1 | 470 months | 0 of 1 |
What the Records Cannot Show
Only people who were convicted and sentenced are in the data. Acquittals and dismissals are not. Prison terms are those imposed, not time served.
Courts-martial are tried in military courts and are not part of this count.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Northern District of Texas (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Texas North") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Murder" (31). 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 Northern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Northern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the Northern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Northern District of Texas, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Northern District of Texas, 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.