Federal National Defense Offense Sentences in the District of Utah, FY2016–2025
10 people were sentenced in the District of Utah for national defense offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and all 10 pleaded guilty. 7 (70%) received a prison term, with a median of 36 months (3 years). Of the 9 people with guideline information, 8 were sentenced below the guideline range at the
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Trends › Federal Prosecution Analysis › Federal Sentences in the District of Utah, FY2016–2025 › National Defense Offense: District of Utah
In brief: 10 people were sentenced in the District of Utah for national defense offenses in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, and all 10 pleaded guilty. 7 (70%) received a prison term, with a median of 36 months (3 years). Of the 9 people with guideline information, 8 were sentenced below the guideline range at the government's request.
This post uses the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 10 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.
Sentences Below the Range at the Government's Request
The sentencing guidelines give a recommended range for each case. Of the 9 people with this information, 8 of 9 were sentenced below the range at the government's request. 1 of 9 was sentenced within the range, and none were above the range or below it without a government request.
For this offense type in all 94 districts, 36% of sentences were within the range. For all offenses in the District of Utah, the figure was 24%. Within-range sentences were therefore less common in this Utah group than in the national group and more common than in the district's cases overall, but 9 people is a very small base.
Which Offenses Are in This Category
"National Defense" is the U.S. Sentencing Commission's offense type. It is a category, not a single statute. In the District of Utah, 6 people had §2M5.2 (Exportation of Arms, Munitions, or Military Equipment or Services Without Required Validated Export License) as the primary guideline.
1 person had §2M3.1 (Gathering or Transmitting National Defense Information to Aid a Foreign Government), and 1 had §2M5.3 (Providing Material Support or Resources to Designated Foreign Terrorist Organizations or Specially Designated Global Terrorists, or For a Terrorist Purpose). The other 2 people had other primary guidelines.
These cases were less than 1% of the 7,061 people sentenced in the district in fiscal years 2016 to 2025.
Prison Terms
7 of the 10 people (70%) were sent to prison, and 3 (30%) received probation only. In all districts, 84% of the 2,236 people in this offense type were sent to prison, so prison was less common in this Utah group.
Among those sent to prison, the median prison term was 36 months. A quarter received 80 months or more, and a quarter received 30 months or less. The median for all districts was 24 months, and for all offenses in the District of Utah it was 30 months.
The terms are the sentences imposed, not time served.
| Fiscal year | People sentenced | Median prison | Pleaded guilty |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 1 | 40 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2017 | 2 | n/a | 2 of 2 |
| 2018 | 1 | 24 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2019 | 2 | 66 months | 2 of 2 |
| 2020 | 1 | n/a | 1 of 1 |
| 2022 | 1 | 120 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2024 | 1 | 36 months | 1 of 1 |
| 2025 | 1 | 36 months | 1 of 1 |
Pleas and Agreements
10 of 10 people (100%) pleaded guilty, and none were convicted after a trial. The guilty plea rate was 97% in all districts and 99% for all offenses in the District of Utah.
Every guilty plea (100%) had a written plea agreement. The data counts only people who were convicted and sentenced, so it does not show cases that ended in acquittal or dismissal.
Supervised Release, Fines, and Criminal History
6 people (60%) were ordered to serve supervised release after prison, with a median term of 36 months. No fine and no restitution was ordered for anyone in the group.
A mandatory minimum prison term applied to 0 of the 10 people with that information recorded. 7 of the 8 people with criminal history information were in the lowest category, category I, and 1 of 8 was in the highest, category VI. Court-martial records have no criminal history field.
Counts by Year
There were 6 people in fiscal years 2016 to 2019 and 4 in fiscal years 2020 to 2025. No year has more than 2 people. The medians in the table range from 24 months to 120 months, and several years show n/a, so the table cannot support a trend.
Hill AFB, Utah, is in this district. Courts-martial are tried in military courts, not in this federal district court, and this post reports federal numbers on their own. The records do not describe individual cases or explain why a sentence was below the range.
How We Counted
Everyone sentenced in federal court in the District of Utah (U.S. Sentencing Commission district label "Utah") in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 whose offense type was "National Defense" (10). 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.
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 District of Utah, FY2016–2025 (overview)
- Federal Drug Trafficking Sentences in the District of Utah, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Immigration Offense Sentences in the District of Utah, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Firearms Sentences in the District of Utah, FY2016–2025 (same district, other offense type)
- Federal Fraud, Theft, and Embezzlement Sentences in the District of Utah, 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.