What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps Manslaughter Conviction?

Trends › By Offense › Article 119 › What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corp

Based on 18 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Almost All General Courts-Martial

17 of the 18 cases were general courts-martial (94%). Across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions from 2017 to 2025, the general share was 41%. 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.

Contested Cases Were More Common

12 of the 18 records list the plea. 8 accused contested at least one charge, and 4 pleaded guilty. That is 67% contested, against 24% for both services in those years. A contested case is one with a not-guilty or mixed plea.

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so these counts use only the records that list it.

Confinement

Confinement was part of 83% of the 18 sentences. The median term was 5 years, and a quarter of the terms were 7 years or longer. The median for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in those years was 6 months.

Each figure is an adjudged sentence, set at trial before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. It covers every charge in the case.

Charges Filed With Manslaughter

Article 119 was the only charge in 2 of the 18 cases. Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 9. Article 134 (general article) appeared in 7, Article 81 (conspiracy) in 5, and Article 107 (false official statement) and Article 118 (murder) in 4 each.

Bad-Conduct and Dishonorable Discharges

14 of the 17 convicted enlisted members received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (82%). 9 of the 14 were dishonorable. The share for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in those years was 62%.

A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

Who Was Convicted

Among the accused with rank recorded, 11 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4) and 6 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9). No officers or warrant officers appear. The mix was similar to all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in those years, where 65% were junior enlisted.

Yearly Counts

The trials ran from April 2018 through May 2025. There were 0 in 2017, 2 in 2018, 0 in 2019, 2 in 2020, 7 in 2021, 2 in 2022, 1 in 2023, 3 in 2024, and 1 in 2025.

Law Changes and Record Limits

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019, and cases with offenses from before 2019 kept the old rules. Article 119 is a covered offense: since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute it. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so trials from 2024 on mix old-rule and new-rule cases.

The records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms, and they do not include nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

Compare: federal court. Murder and Manslaughter: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences, 2016–2025

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.