Pleading Guilty to Article 115 in the Navy-Marine Corps: What Sentences Followed?

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Based on 37 cases · 2021–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Fewer Punitive Discharges Than Other Guilty Pleas

Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas that included threat charges had slightly lighter sentences than guilty pleas overall. Of 35 convicted enlisted members, 19 received a punitive discharge: 16 bad-conduct discharges and 3 dishonorable discharges. That is a rate of 54%. Across all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years, the share was 62%.

The 1 convicted officer or warrant officer was sentenced to dismissal, the officer counterpart to a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Confinement Terms

Confinement was part of 86% of the 37 convictions. Half of those terms were 5 months or less. The median for all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas was 6 months. A quarter of the terms were 1 year or longer.

Each figure is an adjudged sentence, announced at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. It covers every charge in the case, not the threat alone.

Sentence Lengths

Terms under 6 months made up 46% of convictions, compared with 38% across Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas. Terms of 6 months to 1 year made up 24% in both groups. No confinement was adjudged in 5 convictions (14%), compared with 17%.

Confinement of more than one year was adjudged in 6 of 37 convictions (16%), compared with 21% for the wider group. Of those, 4 were between 1 and 5 years and 2 were 5 years or more. Terms of 5 years or more made up 5% in both groups. With 37 cases, each conviction changes the percentages by a few points.

Threats Were Often Charged With Assault

Article 115 was the only charge in 4 of the 37 cases. Assault under Article 128 was the most common other charge, in 21 cases. Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 13, Article 134 (the general article) in 8, Article 80 (attempt) in 6, and Article 128b (domestic violence) in 5.

The sentence in each case covers every charge. The outcomes here therefore describe threat charges together with these other offenses. For example, the 6 cases with an attempt charge involved conduct that the charges describe as attempted rather than completed.

Most Cases Were Special Courts-Martial

Special courts-martial handled 28 of the cases and general courts-martial 9. The general court-martial share of 24% was lower than the 37% across all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years.

A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence. Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement, so the 6 longer terms here came from general courts-martial.

Most of the Accused Were Junior Enlisted

Among the accused with rank recorded, 28 were junior enlisted, 7 were NCOs, and 1 was an officer. The accused here were more junior than in all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years. The rank counts do not add up to the 37 cases, because rank is missing from the records for some accused.

Cases by Year and Location

Trials took place from January 2021 through October 2025. The first year had the most cases, 16. There were 5 in 2022, 7 in 2023, 3 in 2024, and 6 in 2025.

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, had 7 cases, and Camp Pendleton, California, had 5. Okinawa, Japan, San Diego, California, and Quantico, Virginia, had 3 each. Together they account for 57% of the 37 cases. Most of these are Marine Corps installations. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a count alone does not single out any base.

Law Changes During These Years

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. Domestic violence was charged in 5 of these cases. 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.

Both rules depend on the offense date, which the records do not provide. Trials from 2024 on therefore include cases under both old and new rules. The data cannot show whether either change affected the outcomes here.

What These Numbers Do Not Include

Only cases tried by court-martial are counted. Threats resolved through nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. The records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms.

For what the offense covers and how it is defended, see Article 115 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.