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# Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps False Official Statement Charge: How Contested Cases Ended
- URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-107-acq-2017-2025/
- Published: 2026-10-28T06:33:28.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-30T05:12:42.000Z
- Description: From 2017–2025, Navy and Marine Corps records show 70 contested courts-martial that included an Article 107 charge for a false official statement. Only 6 of 70 ended in a full acquittal (9%), compared with 31% across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases.
- Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart
- Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 107, Navy-Marine Corps

[Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 107](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-107-courts-martial/) › Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps False Offic

**Short answer:** From 2017–2025, Navy and Marine Corps records show 70 contested courts-martial that included an Article 107 charge for a false official statement. Only 6 of 70 ended in a full acquittal (9%), compared with 31% across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases. Of convicted enlisted members, 44% received a punitive discharge, compared with 50%.

Based on 70 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

## Few Full Acquittals When Article 107 Was Charged

This post covers only contested cases: courts-martial in which the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge, and the charges included Article 107\. Of those 70 cases that reached a verdict, 6 ended in a full acquittal, or 9%. Across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in the same years, the full acquittal rate was 31%.

Another 16 cases (23%) ended in a partial acquittal, meaning a not-guilty finding on at least one charge or specification and a guilty finding on another. The rest ended in a conviction. The records do not explain the result in any case.

## What Else Was Charged?

Article 107 was the only charge in 9 of the 70 cases. The most common additional charges were Article 92 (orders violation) in 17 cases, Article 134 (the general article) in 16, Article 128 (assault) in 15, Article 120 (sexual assault) in 14, and Article 121 (larceny) in 12.

A full acquittal means not guilty of every charge, including the additional charges. Every sentence below covers every charge in the case.

## Sentences After a Contested Conviction

The 70 cases ended in 64 convictions, and confinement was part of 61% of them. The median confinement was 6 months, compared with 7 months across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 2 years or longer.

Convictions with no confinement were 39% here, compared with 34% in the comparison group. Sentences longer than one year were less common: 13 of 64 (20%), compared with 24%. Only 2 cases (3%) were 5 years or more, compared with 8%. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

| Adjudged confinement            | Convictions | Share here | Share, all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years |
| ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- |
| No confinement                  | 25          | 39%        | 34%                                                             |
| Under 6 months                  | 16          | 25%        | 28%                                                             |
| 6 months to 1 year              | 10          | 16%        | 14%                                                             |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 11          | 17%        | 16%                                                             |
| 5 years or more                 | 2           | 3%         | 8%                                                              |

## Half General, Half Special Courts-Martial

General courts-martial were 50% of these cases (35 of 70). The other 35 were special courts-martial. At general courts-martial, 72% of convictions included confinement, with a median of 1.6 years. At special courts-martial, 51% did, with a median of 4 months.

A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence, including long confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. Since 2019, a judge-alone special court-martial is capped at six months with no punitive discharge.

## Punitive Discharges and Dismissals

Of 54 convicted enlisted members, 24 received a punitive discharge: 17 bad-conduct and 7 dishonorable. That share was 44%. Across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases, it was 50%.

There were also 5 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 3 were sentenced to dismissal. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

## Rank of the Accused

The accused were 30 junior enlisted members, 29 NCOs, and 5 officers. That mix is similar to the accused in all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years.

## Timing and Location

The cases were tried from April 2017 through August 2025\. The year with the most cases was 2021, with 17\. The year with the fewest was 2020, with 2\. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, and a case counts as contested only when a not-guilty plea is recorded. For that reason, the earlier years are based on fewer records.

San Diego, California (7), Camp Lejeune, North Carolina (7), Quantico, Virginia (6), Camp Pendleton, California (6), and Norfolk, Virginia (6) had the most of these cases. Together they account for 46% of the 70 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not mean a base has a problem with this offense.

## Law Changes in These Years

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019\. It set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial, and introduced written plea agreements. Cases with offenses from before 2019 kept the old rules.

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault. When every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new parameters. These rules depend on offense dates, which the records do not give.

## Beyond the Trial Record

The records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, why an accused contested the charges, or conduct handled outside a court-martial through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see [Article 107 on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-107/?ref=bodiesburied.com). Dates and sources for the law changes: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/).

### How We Counted

Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial tried 2017–2025: where the accused contested a charge under Article 107 (false official statement) (70 cases), compared with all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years.

Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.

## Related Analysis

- [Article 107 (False Official Statements): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-107-courts-martial/) (hub)
- [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) (hub)
- [How Has Article 107 Changed in Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial Since 2017?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-107-trend-2017-2025/)
- [Article 107 Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: Confinement and Discharges, 2017–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-107-sent-2017-2025/)
- [When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Guilty to False Official Statement](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-107-plea-2017-2025/)
- [Not Guilty Pleas in Army Article 107 Cases: What Happened at Trial](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/army-article-107-acq-2021-2025/) (another service)
- [Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps AWOL Charge: How Contested Cases Ended](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-86-acq-2017-2025/)
- [Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Charge: How Contested Cases Ended](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-120b-acq-2017-2025/)
- [Article 107 explained on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-107/?ref=bodiesburied.com)
- [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/) (members)

**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.