What Happens to Navy-Marine Corps NCOs (E-5 to E-9) Facing False Official Statement Charges?
In the Navy and Marine Corps, NCOs (E-5 to E-9) convicted in false official statement cases under Article 107 received a punitive discharge less often than the whole group of Article 107 cases. The records show 105 courts-martial from 2017–2025.
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Trends › By Offense › Article 107 › NCOs (E-5 to E-9)
Short answer: In the Navy and Marine Corps, NCOs (E-5 to E-9) convicted in false official statement cases under Article 107 received a punitive discharge less often than the whole group of Article 107 cases. The records show 105 courts-martial from 2017–2025. Of convicted enlisted members, 42% received a punitive discharge, compared with 59% across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 107 cases.
Fewer Punitive Discharges Than the Service-Wide Rate
Of 102 convicted NCOs, 43 received a punitive discharge: 35 bad-conduct and 8 dishonorable. The share across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 107 cases was 59%.
A sentence without a punitive discharge does not mean the member stayed in the service. An administrative separation can still follow, and those decisions are not in these records.
Many Convictions Included No Confinement
Confinement was part of 66% of the 102 convictions. Convictions with no confinement were 34% here, higher than the 23% across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 107 cases.
When confinement was adjudged, the median was 6 months, the same as the wider group. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 1 year or longer. Sentences longer than one year were 13 of 102 convictions (13%), compared with 20%. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps Article 107 cases |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 35 | 34% | 23% |
| Under 6 months | 29 | 28% | 33% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 25 | 25% | 24% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 10 | 10% | 16% |
| 5 years or more | 3 | 3% | 4% |
A Slightly Higher Contested Share
A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge. The plea appears in 72 of 105 records, because Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit it. Of those, 43 were guilty pleas and 29 were contested. The contested share was 40%, compared with 36% across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 107 cases.
Of the 29 contested cases that reached a verdict, 3 ended in a full acquittal. The full acquittal rate was 10%, about the same as the 9% in the wider group. Another 10 ended in a partial acquittal, with an acquittal on at least one charge or specification and a conviction on another.
Larceny Was the Most Common Additional Charge
Article 107 was the only charge in 11 of the 105 cases, compared with 31 of 306 across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 107 cases. Article 121 (larceny) appeared in 30 cases, Article 92 (orders violation) in 28, Article 134 (general article) in 25, Article 128 (assault) in 21, and Article 131b (obstruction, numbered since 2019) in 12.
A sentence covers every charge in the case, so these other charges are part of the figures above.
Court Level and Sentence
A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. Here, 35 of the 105 cases were general courts-martial (33%), compared with 38% across all Navy and Marine Corps Article 107 cases. The other 70 were special courts-martial.
General courts-martial had a median confinement of 1.2 years. Special courts-martial had a median of 4 months. The contested share was 45% at general courts-martial and 37% at special courts-martial.
Rank of the Accused
Every accused in this group was an NCO. In all Navy and Marine Corps Article 107 cases, junior enlisted members were 59% of the accused. No officers or junior enlisted members are included here.
Cases From 2017 to 2025
The 105 cases were tried from January 2017 through October 2025. There were 15 in 2017, 19 in 2018, 16 in 2019, 13 in 2020, 13 in 2021, 8 in 2022, 1 in 2023, 11 in 2024, and 9 in 2025.
Quantico, Virginia and San Diego, California each had 13 cases. Okinawa, Japan and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had 10 each, and Norfolk, Virginia had 9. Together they account for 52% of the 105 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.
Rules in Effect and Gaps in the Data
On January 1, 2019, the Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect. It set fixed panel sizes, added judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and introduced written plea agreements. 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 and domestic violence. Judges sentence within new parameters when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023.
The records give trial dates only, so some years include both old-rule and new-rule cases. They also do not include nonjudicial punishment, administrative separations, the evidence, or the plea terms.
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.
How We Counted
Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial tried 2017–2025 that charged NCOs (E-5 to E-9) under Article 107 (105 cases), compared with every Navy and Marine Corps Article 107 case.
Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in Military Trial Results, data updated October 24, 2026. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: how this data was built. Errors: content@bodiesburied.com.
Related Analysis
- Article 107 (False Official Statements): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- What Happens to Army Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4) Facing False Official Statement Charges?
- NCOs (E-5 to E-9) Charged Under Article 107 in the Army
- Army False Official Statement Cases Against Officers: Outcomes and Sentences
- Army Article 107 Cases by the Numbers, 2021–2025
- Fewer or More? False Official Statement Charges at Air Force Courts-Martial, 2016–2025
- Article 107 explained on the law firm's website
- Search every case in 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. This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.