Pleading Guilty to Article 131b in the Navy-Marine Corps: What Sentences Followed?

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Based on 97 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

Sentences Were Longer Than in Other Guilty Pleas

In Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas, cases that included obstruction had longer confinement and more punitive discharges than guilty pleas overall.

Confinement was part of 91% of the 97 convictions. The median confinement was 9 months, compared with a 6-month median across all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years. A quarter of the confinement sentences were 1.5 years or longer. These are adjudged sentences: the sentences announced at trial, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

More Sentences Longer Than 1 Year

Confinement longer than one year was imposed in 30 of 97 convictions (31%), compared with 21% across Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas. Most of the difference is in sentences between 1 and 5 years: 28% here, compared with 16%. Sentences of 5 years or more made up 3%, compared with 5%.

Shorter sentences were less common. Sentences under 6 months made up 33%, compared with 40%. No confinement was imposed in 9 convictions (9%), compared with 15%. Sentences from 6 months to 1 year made up 27%, compared with 24%.

Punitive Discharges Were More Common

Of 92 convicted enlisted members, 71 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (77%). Of those discharges, 19 were dishonorable. Across all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas, the share was 60%.

The records list 3 convicted officers or warrant officers, and 0 were dismissed. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation.

General and Special Courts-Martial

General courts-martial tried 47 cases, and special courts-martial tried 50. The general court-martial share was 48%, higher than the 37% across all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years.

The median confinement was 1.5 years at general courts-martial and 5 months at special courts-martial. Only a general court-martial can impose more than one year of confinement or a dishonorable discharge.

Obstruction Was Usually Charged With Other Offenses

Article 131b was the only charge in 13 of 97 cases. Article 92 (orders violation) and Article 112a (drugs) each appeared in 23 cases. Article 128 (assault) appeared in 20, Article 81 (conspiracy) in 19, and Article 134 (the general article) in 18.

One sentence covers every charge in a case. The longer sentences here therefore reflect obstruction together with these other offenses. The records do not separate the part of a sentence that relates to obstruction.

A More Junior Group

Of the accused, 72 were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 20 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 3 were officers or warrant officers. That group was more junior than all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years, where 65% were junior enlisted.

Case Counts and Installations

Trials took place from January 2017 to October 2025. The yearly count was 7 in 2017, 9 in 2018, 9 in 2019, 8 in 2020, 19 in 2021, 12 in 2022, 14 in 2023, 7 in 2024, and 12 in 2025. The Article 131b number dates from 2019. The cases from 2017 and 2018 are obstruction cases from before that numbering.

San Diego, California had 19 cases. Norfolk, Virginia had 17, Camp Pendleton, California 11, Bremerton, Washington 10, and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina 6. Together those five account for 65% of the 97 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not show an obstruction problem at a base.

Law Changes During the Period

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It brought written plea agreements, fixed panel sizes, and judge-alone special courts-martial limited to six months with no punitive discharge. Cases with offenses from before 2019 kept the old rules.

Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records do not include offense dates, so cases tried near either change include cases under both the old and new rules. The records cannot show whether the changes affected outcomes.

What the Records Do Not Show

The records do not describe what was obstructed or how. They do not include the evidence or the plea terms. Cases resolved through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation are not counted.

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.