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# 18 U.S.C. 758, High speed flight from immigration checkpoint: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-758-case-outcomes/
- Published: 2026-11-03T06:55:58.000Z
- Updated: 2026-11-03T06:55:58.000Z
- Description: All 181 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case was under 18 U.S.C. 758 faced a felony, and 167 of them (92%) were convicted in fiscal years 2016 to 2025. Guilty pleas accounted for 164 cases (91%), dismissals for 13 (7%), and trials for 4 (2%). A prison term on the charg
- 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. 758

**In brief:** All 181 federal defendants whose most serious charge at the end of the case was under 18 U.S.C. 758 faced a felony, and 167 of them (92%) were convicted in fiscal years 2016 to 2025\. Guilty pleas accounted for 164 cases (91%), dismissals for 13 (7%), and trials for 4 (2%). A prison term on the charge went to 152 of the 167 convicted (91%), with a median of 12 months.

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 181 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/).

## A Felony-Only Group

Every one of the 181 charges was recorded at the felony level (100%). No Class A misdemeanors or petty offenses were listed under this section.

The section's heading in Title 18 of the U.S. Code is "High speed flight from immigration checkpoint". The count covers any subsection.

## Who Represented the Defendants?

Federal public or community defenders were listed at the end of 112 cases (62%). In that group, 93% pleaded guilty, 5% had the charges dismissed, and 2 went to trial with no acquittals (0 of 2).

CJA panel attorneys were listed in 49 cases (27%). A CJA panel attorney is a private lawyer appointed by the court. This group had 90% guilty pleas, 8% dismissals, and 1 trial, which ended in a conviction.

Retained private counsel was listed in 18 cases (10%), with 89% guilty pleas, 6% dismissals, and 1 trial. That trial ended in an acquittal.

Any gap between these groups reflects the cases each group handled, not how good the lawyers were. Defendants who hire counsel and those who are assigned counsel face different charges and circumstances. The trial counts in each group are also very small.

| Type of counsel at the end of the case | Defendants | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| -------------------------------------- | ---------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| Federal public or community defender   | 112        | 93%            | 5%        | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |
| CJA panel attorney                     | 49         | 90%            | 8%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| Private (retained) counsel             | 18         | 89%            | 6%        | 1      | 1 (1 of 1)         |

## How the Cases Ended

The data comes from the Federal Judicial Center. It includes every defendant whose case closed during the period, so dismissals and acquittals are counted along with sentencings.

Of the 181 defendants, 164 pleaded guilty (91%). Charges were dismissed for 13 (7%). A dismissal can include a charge dropped on the government's motion, for instance when the defendant had pleaded guilty in a separate case.

Only 4 cases went to trial, all before a jury. The jury acquitted in 1 of 4\. No bench trials were recorded.

## Prison Terms on This Charge

Of the 167 people convicted, 152 (91%) received a prison term on this charge. Among terms of 1 month or more, the median was 12 months. The median marks the middle of the ranked terms and does not show their range.

## Year by Year

Annual counts were small, from 10 cases in fiscal years 2020 and 2025 to 38 in fiscal year 2022\. The share dismissed moved from year to year, from 0% in fiscal years 2019 and 2025 to 23% in fiscal year 2024.

With so few cases each year, these shifts can come from a handful of defendants. They should not be read as a trend.

| Fiscal year | Cases ended | Pleaded guilty | Dismissed | Trials | Acquitted at trial |
| ----------- | ----------- | -------------- | --------- | ------ | ------------------ |
| 2016        | 11          | 82%            | 18%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2017        | 23          | 96%            | 4%        | 0      | 0                  |
| 2018        | 13          | 92%            | 8%        | 0      | 0                  |
| 2019        | 19          | 89%            | 0%        | 2      | 0 (0 of 2)         |
| 2020        | 10          | 90%            | 10%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2021        | 28          | 89%            | 7%        | 1      | 1 (1 of 1)         |
| 2022        | 38          | 95%            | 3%        | 1      | 0 (0 of 1)         |
| 2023        | 16          | 88%            | 13%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2024        | 13          | 77%            | 23%       | 0      | 0                  |
| 2025        | 10          | 100%           | 0%        | 0      | 0                  |

## What These Counts Do Not Include

The records name the final charge, the result, the sentence on that charge, and the type of counsel at the close of the case. They hold no case facts and no reasons for a plea, a dismissal, or a verdict. The approved crosswalk lists no close court-martial counterpart for this section, so these are federal numbers 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. 758, any subsection (181), 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. 669, Theft or embezzlement in connection with health care: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-669-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 751, Prisoners in custody of institution or officer: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-751-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 842, Unlawful acts: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-842-case-outcomes/) (same title of the U.S. Code)
- [18 U.S.C. 844, Penalties: How Federal Cases Ended, FY2016–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/federal-statute-18-usc-844-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.