Navy-Marine Corps Article 131b Cases in 2025
The records hold 22 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2025 that charged Article 131b (obstruction). The median confinement was 1.2 years, compared with 4 months in all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 5 min read
Trends › By Offense › Article 131b › Navy-Marine Corps, 2025
Short answer: The records hold 22 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2025 that charged Article 131b (obstruction). The median confinement was 1.2 years, compared with 4 months in all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025. Only 1 of 10 contested cases that reached a verdict ended in a full acquittal (10%), against 27% across the service.
Sentences Were Longer Than the Service Overall
Confinement was part of 67% of the 21 convictions. The median confinement was 1.2 years, compared with 4 months for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025. Among the sentences that included confinement, a quarter were 2.8 years or longer.
Sentences longer than one year were more common here: 7 of 21 convictions (33%), against 16% across the service. 3 convictions (14%) carried 5 years or more, compared with 5% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025. At the other end, 5 convictions (24%) carried under 6 months, lower than the 37% service share.
Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement. 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 cases in 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 7 | 33% | 31% |
| Under 6 months | 5 | 24% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 2 | 10% | 16% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4 | 19% | 11% |
| 5 years or more | 3 | 14% | 5% |
Verdicts in Contested Cases
10 contested cases reached a verdict. 1 ended in a full acquittal, and 3 ended in a partial acquittal, meaning not guilty of at least one charge but guilty of another. The 10% full-acquittal rate was lower than the 27% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025.
Contested cases made up 45% of the cases with a plea recorded: 10 not-guilty or mixed pleas and 12 guilty pleas. The contested share for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025 was 37%.
Mostly General Courts-Martial
14 cases were general courts-martial and 8 were special courts-martial. The general share, 64%, was higher than the 36% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025.
Rank of the Accused
Among the accused with rank recorded, 9 were junior enlisted, 9 were NCOs, and 2 were officers. The group was more senior than all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025.
Discharges
9 of 18 convicted enlisted members received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (50%), more often than in all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025 (46%). 4 of those were dishonorable. 1 convicted officer or warrant officer appears in these records and was not dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.
Companion Charges
18 of the 22 cases charged at least one other article. Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 7 cases. Article 128b (domestic violence), Article 107 (false official statement), Article 120b (child sexual abuse), and Article 80 (attempt) each appeared in 3.
Where the Cases Were Tried
Norfolk, Virginia had the most of these cases, with 4. Camp Pendleton, California and Jacksonville, Florida had 3 each, and Quantico, Virginia had 2. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a higher count does not by itself mean a base has more of this offense.
Rule Changes and Record Limits
Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. For offenses after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters when every guilty finding falls after that date. The records give trial dates, not offense dates, so 2025 trials can include cases under either set of rules.
The records also do not describe the evidence or the plea terms, and they do not cover nonjudicial punishment or administrative separations.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial with a trial date in 2025 that charged Article 131b (22 cases), compared with all Navy and Marine Corps cases that year and with 2024.
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 131b (Obstruction, Numbered Since 2019): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- How Navy-Marine Corps Obstruction Cases Ended in 2022 (previous / next)
- Is Navy-Marine Corps Obstruction Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 131b, 2017–2025 (the full trend)
- How Navy-Marine Corps Obstruction Cases Ended in 2018
- How Navy-Marine Corps Obstruction Cases Ended in 2021
- Navy-Marine Corps Article 131b Cases in 2019
- Obstruction at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2020: The Year in Numbers
- How Much Confinement for an Article 131b Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps?
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
Compare: federal court. Obstruction of Justice and Perjury: Federal vs. Court-Martial Sentences
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.