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# 18 U.S.C. 3, Accessory after the fact: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-3-case-outcomes/
- Published: 2026-11-03T06:55:26.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T06:55:26.000Z
- Description: Of 1,032 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under 18 U.S.C. 3, 994 (96%) pleaded guilty, 35 (3%) had their cases dismissed, and 3 went to trial in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. None of the 3 trials ended in an acquittal. Most of these charges were not felonies: 42%
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Federal

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [Federal Prosecution Analysis](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal/) › 18 U.S.C. 3

**In brief:** Of 1,032 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case fell under 18 U.S.C. 3, 994 (96%) pleaded guilty, 35 (3%) had their cases dismissed, and 3 went to trial in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. None of the 3 trials ended in an acquittal. Most of these charges were not felonies: 42% were Class A misdemeanors and 25% were petty offenses.

Updated November 3, 2026 · Sources: U.S. Sentencing Commission and Federal Judicial Center, fiscal years 2016–2025

This post uses the Federal Judicial Center's records of 1,032 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](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/).

## Most Charges Under This Section Were Below Felony Level

Title 18, section 3 of the U.S. Code carries the heading "Accessory after the fact". The federal records list a level for the charge in each case. For these 1,032 defendants, 337 (33%) faced the charge as a felony, 433 (42%) as a Class A misdemeanor, and 262 (25%) as a petty offense.

That mix matters when reading the rest of the numbers. A group with many misdemeanor and petty offense charges is a different set of cases from a group where every charge is a felony. The records give the level only. They do not explain how any one charge was set at that level.

## Guilty Pleas Ended Almost Every Case

The Federal Judicial Center counts every defendant whose case ended, including dismissals and acquittals. Under this section, 994 of the 1,032 defendants pleaded guilty. Another 35 had the charges dismissed.

A dismissal in these records covers more than one situation. It includes charges dropped on the government's motion, for example after a defendant pleaded guilty in another case. The count alone cannot show which situation applied.

Only 3 defendants went to trial over the 10 fiscal years. All 3 were jury trials, and all 3 ended in a conviction. With so few trials, the acquittal count of 0 of 3 says very little about how a trial on this charge would go.

## Prison Terms After a Conviction

In total, 997 of the 1,032 (97%) were convicted, by plea or at trial. Of those 997, 758 (76%) received a prison term on this charge. The rest were convicted without a prison term on that count.

The median prison term was 15 months. That median covers only defendants who received a term of 1 month or more. It does not include anyone who received no prison time on this charge.

## Results Grouped by Type of Counsel

The records note the type of lawyer at the end of the case. CJA panel attorneys represented 535 defendants (52%). Federal public or community defenders represented 379 (37%), and retained private counsel represented 114 (11%).

Guilty plea rates were close across all 3 groups: 98% for defenders, and 96% for both CJA panel attorneys and retained counsel. The 3 trials split as 2 with CJA panel attorneys and 1 with retained counsel.

These are groups of cases, not ratings of lawyers. People who hire a lawyer and people who receive an appointed one face different charges and circumstances. Any gap between the groups reflects those differences in the cases, and the numbers do not measure the quality of any lawyer.

| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| Federal public or community defender   | 379        | 98%            | 2%        | 0      | 0                  |
| CJA panel attorney                     | 535        | 96%            | 4%        | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |
| Private (retained) counsel             | 114        | 96%            | 4%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |

## Year-by-Year Counts

The number of cases that ended each fiscal year ranged from 55 in 2017 to 183 in 2024\. Federal fiscal years begin in October, not January.

Dismissal rates were higher in the earliest years shown: 10% in 2016 and 13% in 2017\. In 2025, 99% of the 164 cases ended in a guilty plea. The table lists each year in full.

| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed    | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | ------------ | ------ | ------------------ |
| 2016        | 62          | 89%            | 10%          | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2017        | 55          | 87%            | 13%          | 0      | 0                  |
| 2018        | 128         | more than 99%  | less than 1% | 0      | 0                  |
| 2019        | 143         | 98%            | 2%           | 0      | 0                  |
| 2020        | 72          | 94%            | 6%           | 0      | 0                  |
| 2021        | 56          | 96%            | 4%           | 0      | 0                  |
| 2022        | 75          | 91%            | 9%           | 0      | 0                  |
| 2023        | 94          | 98%            | 1%           | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2024        | 183         | 98%            | 1%           | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2025        | 164         | 99%            | 1%           | 0      | 0                  |

## What These Records Leave Out

The counts follow the most serious charge at the end of the case. A defendant first charged with something else, and later convicted under this section, can appear here. One first charged under this section and later convicted of something more serious does not.

The records also do not describe the facts of any case, the strength of the evidence, or the reasons a prosecutor dismissed a charge. No court-martial offense is a close match for this section in the approved crosswalk, so this post reports the federal numbers on their own.

### 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. 3, any subsection (1,032), 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](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)
- [18 U.S.C. 2, Principals: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-2-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 4, Misprision of felony: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-4-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 13, Laws of States adopted for areas within Federal jurisdiction: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-13-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [Appointed vs. Retained Lawyers in Federal Criminal Cases: How Cases Ended, 2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-appointed-vs-retained-counsel-outcomes/)
- [Are Courts-Martial More Likely to End in Acquittal Than Federal Trials?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-trial-acquittal-rates-vs-courts-martial/)
- [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.