18 U.S.C. 111, Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
Of 234 federal trials under 18 U.S.C. 111 that ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 70 (30%) ended in an acquittal. Trials were uncommon: 2,630 of the 3,395 defendants (77%) pleaded guilty and 531 (16%) had their cases dismissed. Among the 2,794 convicted, 2,426 (87%) received a prison term on this c
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In brief: Of 234 federal trials under 18 U.S.C. 111 that ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025, 70 (30%) ended in an acquittal. Trials were uncommon: 2,630 of the 3,395 defendants (77%) pleaded guilty and 531 (16%) had their cases dismissed. Among the 2,794 convicted, 2,426 (87%) received a prison term on this charge, with a median of 21 months.
This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 3,395 federal defendants whose cases ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. 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 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.
How Often Did Trials End in Acquittal?
Title 18, section 111 of the U.S. Code has the heading "Assaulting, resisting, or impeding certain officers or employees". The Federal Judicial Center counted 3,395 defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case was under this section. Of those, 234 (7%) went to trial.
Jury trials made up most of them. Of 188 jury trials, 59 (31%) ended in an acquittal. Of 46 bench trials, which a judge decides, 11 (24%) ended in an acquittal.
An acquittal rate here counts only cases that reached a trial. It leaves out the much larger groups that pleaded guilty or had charges dismissed.
Pleas and Dismissals
The FJC data covers every defendant whose case ended, including dismissals and acquittals. Guilty pleas ended 2,630 cases. Dismissals ended 531.
A dismissal can include charges dropped on the government's motion, for example after a defendant pleaded guilty in another case. The records do not separate those dismissals from others.
By plea or at trial, 2,794 of the 3,395 (82%) were convicted.
Felony and Misdemeanor Charges
The records list 2,529 defendants (74%) with a felony charge under this section and 866 (26%) with a Class A misdemeanor charge. None were listed as a petty offense.
Of the 2,794 convicted, 2,426 received a prison term on this charge. The median was 21 months for those with a term of 1 month or more. Convictions with no prison term on this charge are not part of that median.
Changes Across Fiscal Years
The yearly counts show fiscal year 2025 as different from the years before it. That year, 432 cases ended, the most in the table. The dismissal rate was 29% and the guilty plea rate was 62%. In the other years shown, dismissal rates ranged from 10% to 20%.
Single-year acquittal rates varied widely because trial counts were small. They ranged from 13% in 2016 and 2024 to 67% in 2021, when 10 of 15 trials ended in an acquittal. The records cannot show why any year differed from another.
| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 308 | 79% | 16% | 16 | 2 (13%) |
| 2017 | 286 | 78% | 17% | 16 | 10 (63%) |
| 2018 | 378 | 80% | 12% | 29 | 10 (34%) |
| 2019 | 325 | 79% | 13% | 27 | 6 (22%) |
| 2020 | 296 | 82% | 14% | 11 | 5 (45%) |
| 2021 | 277 | 74% | 20% | 15 | 10 (67%) |
| 2022 | 394 | 80% | 14% | 25 | 8 (32%) |
| 2023 | 366 | 83% | 10% | 26 | 6 (23%) |
| 2024 | 333 | 81% | 10% | 30 | 4 (13%) |
| 2025 | 432 | 62% | 29% | 39 | 9 (23%) |
Results by Type of Counsel
Federal public or community defenders represented 1,849 defendants (54%). CJA panel attorneys represented 1,023 (30%). Retained private counsel represented 410 (12%), and 50 defendants (1%) were self-represented.
At trial, acquittal rates were close across the groups with a lawyer: 30% for defenders, 30% for CJA panel attorneys, and 32% for retained counsel. Retained counsel had a lower guilty plea rate, 72%, and a higher dismissal rate, 18%, than the appointed groups. Self-represented defendants had a dismissal rate of 78%.
Type of counsel is recorded at the end of the case. Defendants who hire a lawyer and those who are appointed one face different charges and circumstances. Differences between these groups describe the cases, not the quality of lawyers.
| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Federal public or community defender | 1,849 | 81% | 13% | 107 | 32 (30%) |
| CJA panel attorney | 1,023 | 80% | 12% | 87 | 26 (30%) |
| Private (retained) counsel | 410 | 72% | 18% | 38 | 12 (32%) |
| Self-represented | 50 | 18% | 78% | 2 | 0 (0 of 2) |
Questions the Records Cannot Answer
The counts follow the most serious charge at the end of each case. They do not describe what happened in any case, who was involved, or what evidence was offered at trial.
No close court-martial counterpart for this section appears in the approved crosswalk. The numbers in this post are federal only.
How We Counted
Every federal defendant whose case ended in fiscal years 2016 to 2025 and whose most serious charge at the end of the case (TTITLE1) was under 18 U.S.C. 111, any subsection (3,395), Federal Judicial Center, counted as in the federal courts' Table D-4. Type of counsel is TCOUNSEL; labels from the FJC criminal codebook. Section heading from the U.S. Code as published by the Office of the Law Revision Counsel (release point 119-136).
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.
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.
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.
Type of counsel describes groups of cases, not lawyers. The Federal Judicial Center records the type of counsel at the end of the case. Defendants who hire a lawyer differ from defendants who receive an appointed lawyer in their charges, criminal history, and circumstances, and some defendants change lawyers during a case. Differences in outcomes by type of counsel therefore cannot be credited to the type of lawyer.
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)
- 18 U.S.C. 13, Laws of States adopted for areas within Federal jurisdiction: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 81, Arson within special maritime and territorial jurisdiction: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 113, Assaults within maritime and territorial jurisdiction: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- 18 U.S.C. 115, Influencing, impeding, or retaliating against a Federal official by threatening or injuring a family member: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025 (same title of the U.S. Code)
- Appointed vs. Retained Lawyers in Federal Criminal Cases: How Cases Ended, 2016–2025
- Are Courts-Martial More Likely to End in Acquittal Than Federal Trials?
- 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.