How Navy-Marine Corps False Official Statement Cases Ended in 2025

Trends › By Offense › Article 107 › Navy-Marine Corps, 2025

Based on 23 cases · 2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Fewer Punitive Discharges

Of 19 convicted enlisted members, 4 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (21%). That was less often than the 46% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025. None of the 4 was a dishonorable discharge.

A punitive discharge is a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge. Its absence does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not cover.

Many Sentences Had No Confinement

Of the 23 cases, 22 ended in a conviction on at least one charge. Confinement was part of 12 of those sentences (55%). The other 10 convictions (45%) had no confinement, compared with 31% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025.

The median confinement was 4 months, the same as the service median. A quarter of the sentences with confinement were 9 months or longer.

Sentence Lengths by Band

Short terms were the most common. Sentences under 6 months made up 8 convictions (36%), and 6 months to 1 year made up 3 (14%). Only 1 of 22 convictions (5%) was longer than one year, compared with 16% across the Navy and Marine Corps in 2025. No sentence reached 5 years.

Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in the case.

Court Level and Rank

General courts-martial heard 6 of the 23 cases (26%), lower than the 36% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.

The accused included 10 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) and 9 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), with no officers or warrant officers. That mix is more senior than all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025, where 62% were junior enlisted.

Pleas

Guilty pleas ended 15 of the cases, and 8 were contested, meaning a not-guilty or mixed plea. The contested share, 35%, was about the same as the 37% across the service.

Charges Filed With Article 107

In 19 of the 23 cases, at least one other article was charged. The most common were Article 92 (orders violation) in 7, Article 121 (larceny) in 5, Article 134 (general article) in 4, Article 131b (obstruction) in 3, and Article 112a (drug) in 2.

Installations With the Most Cases

Great Lakes, Illinois, and Quantico, Virginia, had 3 cases each. Bremerton, Washington; Camp Pendleton, California; and San Diego, California, had 2 each. Together these 5 installations account for 52% of the 23 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a count alone says little about a single base.

Law Changes and Limits

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. For offenses after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence under new sentencing parameters. Both rules turn on the offense date, so trials from 2024 on mix old-rule and new-rule cases.

The records give trial dates from January 2025 to October 2025, not offense dates. They do not describe the evidence or the plea terms, and they do not include nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 107 on the law firm's website. Dates and sources for the law changes: UCMJ change timeline.

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.