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# Federal Murder Sentences in the Southern District of California, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-murder-sentences-southern-district-of-california/
- Published: 2026-11-04T10:37:15.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-04T10:37:15.000Z
- Description: 14 people were sentenced for murder offenses in the Southern District of California in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. All 14 received a prison term, and 7 received a life sentence. The median prison term was 470 months (39.2 years), compared with 240 months for all 94 federal districts.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [Federal Sentences in the Southern District of California, FY](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-southern-district-of-california/) › Murder: Southern District of California

**In brief:** 14 people were sentenced for murder offenses in the Southern District of California in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. All 14 received a prison term, and 7 received a life sentence. The median prison term was 470 months (39.2 years), compared with 240 months for all 94 federal districts.

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 14 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](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/).

## How Long Were the Prison Terms?

The median prison term was 470 months. A quarter of the people received 470 months or more, and a quarter received 240 months or less. 7 of the 14 received a life sentence.

All districts together sentenced 3,754 people in the Murder offense type. More than 99% were sent to prison, and the median there was 240 months.

## Pleas, Trials, and Plea Agreements

9 people (64%) pleaded guilty, and 5 were convicted after a trial. In all districts, 78% of people in this type pleaded guilty, while 99% did across all offenses in this district.

The median prison term after a guilty plea was 240 months, compared with 470 months after a trial. Only 5 people make up the trial group. Each of the 9 guilty pleas came with a written plea agreement.

## Mandatory Minimums

4 of the 14 people (29%) had a mandatory minimum prison term apply to them. The sheet does not say which sentences those were or how they relate to the life sentences.

## Sentences and the Guideline Range

6 people (43%) were sentenced within the guideline range. 5 (36%) were below it at the government's request, and 0% were below it without that request. 3 (21%) were above it.

In this offense type across all districts, 39% were within the range. Among all offenses in this district, 15% were.

## Primary Guidelines and Share of the District's Cases

§2A1.1 (First Degree Murder) was the primary guideline in 13 cases, and §2A1.2 (Second Degree Murder) in 1\. The category is less than 1% of the 32,099 people sentenced in the district in these years. District-wide, the median prison term for all offenses was 15 months.

## Supervised Release, Restitution, and Prior Record

9 people (64%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 60 months. 0 were ordered to pay a fine, and 10 (71%) were ordered to pay restitution.

43% were in criminal history category I, the lowest, and 7% were in category VI, the highest. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.

## Yearly Table

8 people were sentenced in fiscal years 2016 to 2019, and 6 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025\. A fiscal year starts on October 1 and ends the following September.

The table shows 6 people in 2016 with a median of 470 months, and 5 people in 2025 with a median of 140 months. Different small groups produced those numbers, so they are not evidence of a trend.

| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
| ----------- | ---------------- | ------------- | -------------- |
| 2016        | 6                | 470 months    | 2 of 6         |
| 2017        | 1                | 240 months    | 1 of 1         |
| 2018        | 1                | 470 months    | 0 of 1         |
| 2022        | 1                | 470 months    | 1 of 1         |
| 2025        | 5                | 140 months    | 5 of 5         |

## Outside the Records

Acquittals and dismissals are not in this data, and the terms are the terms ordered, not time served. Camp Pendleton, Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, and San Diego are in the district, and their courts-martial are held in military courts.

### How We Counted

Everyone sentenced in federal court in the Southern District of California (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "California South") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "Murder" (14). 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](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)
- [Federal Sentences in the Southern District of California, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-district-southern-district-of-california/) (overview)
- [Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the Southern District of California, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-immigration-sentences-southern-district-of-california/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the Southern District of California, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-drug-trafficking-sentences-southern-district-of-california/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the Southern District of California, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-fraud-theft-embezzlement-sentences-southern-district-of-california/) (same district, other offense type)
- [Federal Money Laundering Sentences in the Southern District of California, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-money-laundering-sentences-southern-district-of-california/) (same district, other offense type)
- [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.