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# Obstruction of Justice Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Marine Corps Courts-Martial
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obstruction-acquittal-rate-vs-marine-corps/
- Published: 2026-11-03T01:38:52.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T01:38:52.000Z
- Description: In the Marine Corps, 1 of 22 contested obstruction of justice (Article 131b) cases that reached a verdict from 2016 to 2025 ended in a full acquittal (5%). In federal court, 52 of the 327 obstruction trials that ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 ended in an acquittal (16%). The groups are counted d
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › [Obstruction of Justice and Perjury](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obstruction-perjury-vs-courts-martial/) › Obstruction of Justice: Marine Corps Acquittals

**In brief:** In the Marine Corps, 1 of 22 contested obstruction of justice (Article 131b) cases that reached a verdict from 2016 to 2025 ended in a full acquittal (5%). In federal court, 52 of the 327 obstruction trials that ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 ended in an acquittal (16%). The groups are counted differently, and the sections below explain how.

Updated November 2, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025 · Military Trial Results

This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 1,590 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). The series also draws on the U.S. Sentencing Commission's records of 659,036 people sentenced 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/).

## What Happened in Contested Marine Corps Obstruction Cases?

The Marine Corps records show 22 contested courts-martial for obstruction of justice that reached a verdict, with trial dates from 2016 to 2025\. A court-martial is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, which includes a mixed plea.

One of the 22 cases ended in a full acquittal. That is 5%. Another 6 cases (27%) ended in a partial acquittal, meaning the accused was found not guilty of at least one charge and guilty of another.

A partial acquittal is still a conviction on at least one charge. The 5% figure therefore counts only the cases in which every charge failed.

## Who Decided Guilt?

Judge alone decided 13 of the 22 cases, and none of those 13 ended in a full acquittal. Members decided 4 cases, and 1 of the 4 ended in a full acquittal. Within the members cases, enlisted members decided 2 cases with 0 full acquittals, and officer members decided 2 cases with 1.

For the remaining 5 cases, no forum is listed, and none of those 5 ended in a full acquittal. Navy and Marine Corps records usually do not show whether a judge or members decided guilt, so this gap is expected in the data.

Each of these groups is very small. A result of 1 of 2 or 0 of 5 describes those cases only and does not support a rate for the Marine Corps as a whole.

## How Often Did Federal Obstruction Trials End in Acquittal?

The Federal Judicial Center counted 1,590 defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 1503, 1505, 1512, or 1519 whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. These statutes cover obstruction of proceedings, witness tampering, and destroying records.

Most of these defendants pleaded guilty: 1,037 (65%). Another 226 (14%) had their cases dismissed, and 327 (21%) went to trial. In total, 1,312 defendants (83%) were convicted by plea or at trial.

Of the 327 trials, 52 ended in an acquittal (16%). Jury trials numbered 290, with 48 acquittals (17%). Bench trials, where a judge decides guilt, numbered 37, with 4 acquittals (11%).

## Marine Corps Results by Year

The table lists the years that appear in the Marine Corps records. The year with the most contested cases was 2021, with 8 cases and 0 full acquittals. The only full acquittal in the table is in 2025, which had 5 cases.

| Year | Marine Corps: full acquittals of contested cases |
| ---- | ------------------------------------------------ |
| 2016 | 0 of 1                                           |
| 2018 | 0 of 1                                           |
| 2020 | 0 of 2                                           |
| 2021 | 0 of 8                                           |
| 2022 | 0 of 1                                           |
| 2023 | 0 of 1                                           |
| 2024 | 0 of 3                                           |
| 2025 | 1 of 5                                           |

## Why These Rates Are Not the Same Kind of Number

The Marine Corps figure starts with contested cases that reached a verdict. The federal figure starts with trials, and trials are 21% of all federal defendants in the group. The federal group also includes guilty pleas and dismissals, which are outside the trial figure of 16%.

The Marine Corps count includes mixed pleas, in which the accused admitted some charges and contested others. Federal data does not report partial acquittals separately, so there is no federal number to set beside the 27%.

The Marine Corps rate of 5% is lower than the federal trial rate of 16%. With 22 cases and 1 full acquittal, a single additional acquittal would change the Marine Corps rate considerably.

## What the Records Cannot Show

The records do not show the evidence in any case, the strength of the charges, or the reason any case ended as it did. They also do not show how many Marine Corps obstruction charges were dropped before trial, so the court-martial side has no counterpart to the federal dismissals.

The years are also defined differently. Court-martial cases are counted by trial date, and federal cases by the fiscal year in which they ended.

### How We Counted

Marine Corps courts-martial charging obstruction of justice (Article 131b) with trial dates in 2016 to 2025 that were contested and reached a verdict (22). Federal: defendants charged under 18 U.S.C. 1503, 1505, 1512, or 1519 whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 (1,590), Federal Judicial Center.

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.

**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](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)
- [Obstruction of Justice and Perjury: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obstruction-perjury-vs-courts-martial/) (overview)
- [Obstruction of Justice Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Army Courts-Martial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obstruction-acquittal-rate-vs-army/)
- [Obstruction of Justice Charges: Federal Trial Acquittals vs. Contested Navy Courts-Martial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obstruction-acquittal-rate-vs-navy/)
- [Obstruction of Justice Sentences Since the 2023 Military Sentencing Reform: What the Data Shows So Far](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obstruction-2023-sentencing-reform-so-far/)
- [Obstruction of Justice Charges: How Often Federal Trials and Courts-Martial End in Acquittal](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obstruction-acquittal-rate-vs-courts-martial/)
- [Guilty Pleas in Obstruction of Justice Cases: Federal Court vs. Courts-Martial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obstruction-guilty-plea-rate-vs-courts-martial/)
- [Obstruction of Justice Convictions of Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4): Courts-Martial Compared With Federal Court](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-obstruction-junior-enlisted-vs-federal-court/)
- [Is Navy-Marine Corps Obstruction Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 131b, 2017–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-131b-trend-2017-2025/) (court-martial data)
- [How Much Confinement for an Article 131b Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-131b-sent-2017-2025/) (court-martial data)
- [Not Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Article 131b Cases: What Happened at Trial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-131b-acq-2017-2025/) (court-martial data)
- [Pleading Guilty to Article 131b in the Navy-Marine Corps: What Sentences Followed?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-131b-plea-2017-2025/) (court-martial data)
- [Article 131b (Obstruction, Numbered Since 2019): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-131b-courts-martial/) (court-martial data)
- [Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-courts-martial/) (court-martial data)
- [Article 131b UCMJ: Obstructing Justice](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-131b/?ref=bodiesburied.com) (law firm reference page)
- [Forum Selection](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/forum-selection/?ref=bodiesburied.com) (law firm reference page)
- [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.