Navy-Marine Corps Article 119 Cases by the Numbers, 2017–2025
Navy and Marine Corps records from 2017–2025 hold 19 courts-martial that charged Article 119 (manslaughter). 18 of the 19 were general courts-martial (95%), compared with 43% service-wide.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 5 min read
Trends › By Offense › Article 119 › Navy-Marine Corps
Short answer: Navy and Marine Corps records from 2017–2025 hold 19 courts-martial that charged Article 119 (manslaughter). 18 of the 19 were general courts-martial (95%), compared with 43% service-wide. The median confinement was 5 years, against 6 months for all Navy and Marine Corps cases, and 69% of cases with a plea recorded were contested, against 32%.
Almost All Tried at a General Court-Martial
A general court-martial heard 18 of the 19 cases, a share of 95%. Only 43% of all Navy and Marine Corps cases were tried at that level. The general court-martial is the level with no sentence cap below the legal maximum. The lower level, the special court-martial, is limited to one year of confinement and cannot adjudge a dishonorable discharge.
Most Accused Contested the Charges
Pleas are listed in 13 of the 19 records. In 9 of those, the accused pleaded not guilty to one or more charges, and in 4 the accused pleaded guilty. The contested share, 69%, is higher than the 32% across the Navy and Marine Corps.
Many Navy and Marine Corps records from before December 2020 leave the plea blank. Those cases are left out of the plea count.
Sentences in Manslaughter Cases
18 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. Confinement was part of 15 of those sentences (83%). The median term was 5 years, compared with 6 months in the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps. A quarter of the terms here were 7 years or longer.
Dishonorable discharges went to 9 convicted enlisted members and bad-conduct discharges to 5, so a punitive discharge followed 82% of enlisted convictions. Service-wide, that figure was 62%. Members sentenced without one can still be separated administratively.
Each sentence is the one announced at trial. A plea-agreement cap, clemency, or an appeal can change it afterward, and it covers all the charges in the case.
Orders Violations and the General Article
Only 2 of the 19 cases charged manslaughter alone. Orders violations under Article 92 were charged in 9 cases, and Article 134 (general article) in 8. Conspiracy under Article 81 appeared in 5. Article 107 (false official statement) and Article 118 (murder) were each charged in 4.
Who Was Charged
Among the accused with rank recorded, 12 were junior enlisted members and 6 were NCOs. No officers appear. The group is more junior than the rest of the Navy and Marine Corps.
A High Point in 2021
2021 had the most cases of any year, 7, and the most convictions including Article 119, also 7. 2024 had 3. 2018, 2020, 2022, and 2025 each had 2, and 2023 had 1. The records show no cases in 2017 or 2019. The first trial was in April 2018 and the last in October 2025.
Against all Navy and Marine Corps convictions with offenses listed, Article 119 was part of 2 of 1243 in 2017–2019 (0%) and 5 of 940 in 2023–2025 (1%), about the same share.
Rule Changes and What Is Not Recorded
Manslaughter is a covered offense. Special trial counsel, not commanders, have made the call on whether to prosecute covered offenses since December 28, 2023. A separate change sets sentencing parameters for cases in which every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023. With only trial dates in the records, cases from 2024 on cannot be sorted by which set of rules applied. Nor do the records describe the evidence or any plea terms.
| Year | Convictions incl. Art. 119 | All convictions with offenses listed | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2017 | 0 | 437 | 0% |
| 2018 | 2 | 433 | 0% |
| 2019 | 0 | 373 | 0% |
| 2020 | 2 | 354 | 1% |
| 2021 | 7 | 385 | 2% |
| 2022 | 2 | 322 | 1% |
| 2023 | 1 | 283 | 0% |
| 2024 | 3 | 345 | 1% |
| 2025 | 1 | 312 | 0% |
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial tried 2017–2025 that charged Article 119 (19 cases). The trend line uses convictions whose records list the offenses found, by trial year.
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 119 (Manslaughter): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial: Data and Trends (hub)
- By Offense (hub)
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- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.