What Happens to Navy-Marine Corps Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4) Facing Obstruction Charges?

Trends › By Offense › Article 131b › Junior Enlisted (E-1 to E-4)

Based on 121 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

No Full Acquittals in Contested Cases

Of the 14 contested cases that reached a verdict, 0 ended in a full acquittal. Every one of the 121 cases ended with a conviction on at least one charge.

Some contested cases ended in a partial acquittal. In 3 of them (21%), the court found the accused not guilty of at least one charge or specification and guilty of another.

Most of the Accused Pleaded Guilty

A case is contested when the accused pleads not guilty to at least one charge, including a mixed plea. Among the 86 records that list a plea, 72 were guilty pleas and 14 were contested. The contested share was 16%, lower than the 31% for all Navy and Marine Corps obstruction cases.

Many records do not list a plea. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit it. The shares here use only the records that include a plea.

Obstruction Was Almost Always Charged With Other Offenses

Only 11 of the 121 cases charged Article 131b alone. In the service as a whole, 16 of 196 Article 131b cases charged it alone. Obstruction was usually charged with other misconduct.

Article 112a (drug) was the most common other charge, in 40 cases. Article 92 (orders violation) appeared in 36, Article 128 (assault) and Article 81 (conspiracy) in 28 each, and Article 107 (false official statement) in 27. The sentence covers every charge, so the figures below describe whole cases, not obstruction alone.

Most Convicted Members Received a Punitive Discharge

Of 121 convicted enlisted members, 101 received a punitive discharge: 74 bad-conduct discharges and 27 dishonorable discharges. In all Navy and Marine Corps Article 131b cases, the punitive discharge share was 76%. Punitive discharges were more common in this group.

Members who did not receive a punitive discharge could still face a later administrative separation. Administrative separations are not in these court records.

Median Confinement Was About the Same as Service-Wide

Of the 121 convictions, 111 included confinement. The median confinement was 9 months, about the same as the 10 months for all Navy and Marine Corps Article 131b cases. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 1.5 years or longer.

More sentences here were in the shorter ranges. Sentences under 6 months made up 30% of convictions here, compared with 25% overall. Sentences from 6 months to 1 year made up 31%, compared with 26%. No confinement was less common: 8%, compared with 15%.

Confinement longer than one year was imposed slightly less often: 37 of 121 convictions (31%), compared with 35% in the comparison group. All of these are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Sentences by Court Level

General courts-martial made up 43% of these cases (52 of 121). Special courts-martial tried the other 69. Only a general court-martial can impose more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge.

At general courts-martial, the median confinement was 1.7 years, and 13% of cases were contested. At special courts-martial, the median was 5 months, and 19% of cases were contested.

Case Counts and Installations

Cases were tried from January 2017 to September 2025. The yearly count was 15 in 2017, 11 in 2018, 15 in 2019, 18 in 2020, and 24 in 2021, the highest year. It was 9 in 2022, 10 in 2023, 10 in 2024, and 9 in 2025.

Camp Pendleton, California and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina each tried 20 of these cases. San Diego, California had 15, Bremerton, Washington 10, and Norfolk, Virginia 9. Together they account for 61% of the total. Large installations try more cases of every kind, so these counts do not show a problem at any base.

Law Changes During the Period

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It added written plea agreements and judge-alone special courts-martial limited to six months. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. Which rules applied depends on the offense date, which these records do not include.

What the Records Do Not Show

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

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

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.