> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How Often Are Contested Navy-Marine Corps Article 113 Cases Acquitted? - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-113-acq-2021-2025/ - Published: 2026-10-30T08:05:01.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-30T08:05:01.000Z - Description: The Navy and Marine Corps records hold 17 contested courts-martial from 2021–2025 with an Article 113 (drunken or reckless driving) charge. Only 1 of 17 ended in a full acquittal (6%), compared with 25% across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 113, Navy-Marine Corps [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 113](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-113-courts-martial/) › How Often Are Contested Navy-Marine Corp **Short answer:** The Navy and Marine Corps records hold 17 contested courts-martial from 2021–2025 with an Article 113 (drunken or reckless driving) charge. Only 1 of 17 ended in a full acquittal (6%), compared with 25% across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years. The median confinement was 5 months, close to the 6-month median across those cases. Based on 17 cases · 2021–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026 ## Few Acquittals Every case was contested: the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. Only 1 case ended with the accused acquitted of all charges. The full-acquittal rate, 6%, was lower than the 25% across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases from 2021 through 2025. Another 5 cases split the charges, with a not-guilty finding on at least one and a guilty finding on another. ## Confinement Of the 17 cases, 16 ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 11 of those sentences included confinement (69%). The median confinement was 5 months, close to the 6 months across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases. A quarter of the terms were 2.5 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in its case. ## Punitive Discharges A punitive discharge followed 54% of enlisted convictions: 6 bad-conduct discharges and 1 dishonorable discharge. Across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases, the share was 51%. The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was not dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. ## Other Charges Article 113 was the only charge in 3 of the 17 cases. Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 6\. Article 107 (false official statement) and Article 134 (general article) appeared in 4 each, and Article 86 (AWOL) and Article 121 (larceny) in 3 each. ## Rank and Court Level Among the accused with rank recorded, 11 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 2 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 was an officer or warrant officer. Across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases, 55% of the accused were junior enlisted, so this group was more junior. General courts-martial made up 35% of the cases (6 of 17), and special courts-martial heard the rest. ## Trial Years and Rule Changes The trials ran from March 2021 through August 2025: 4 in 2021, 4 in 2022, 2 in 2023, 2 in 2024, and 5 in 2025\. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so they cannot show which rules applied to a given trial. They do not describe the evidence or the plea terms, and they do not show cases handled by nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation. For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see [Article 113 on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-113/?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 2021–2025: where the accused contested a charge under Article 113 (drunken or reckless driving) (17 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 113 (Misbehavior of a Sentinel Before 2019, Drunken or Reckless Driving Since): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-113-courts-martial/) (hub) - [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) (hub) - [Is Navy-Marine Corps Drunken Or Reckless Driving Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 113, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-113-trend-2021-2025/) - [Article 113 Sentences in the Navy-Marine Corps: Confinement and Discharges, 2021–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-113-sent-2021-2025/) - [Pleading Guilty to Article 113 in the Navy-Marine Corps: What Sentences Followed?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-113-plea-2021-2025/) - [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/) - [Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Conduct Unbecoming Charge: How Contested Cases Ended](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-133-acq-2017-2025/) - [Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Disobeying An Officer Charge: How Contested Cases Ended](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-90-acq-2017-2025/) - [Article 113 explained on the law firm's website](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/practice-areas/court-martial/article-113/?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.