How Navy-Marine Corps Conspiracy Cases Ended in 2025
The records hold 22 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2025 that charged Article 81 (conspiracy). 18% of the cases were contested, compared with 37% in all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025. The median confinement was 4 months, the same as across the service.
Understanding Trends in Military Practice · 4 min read
Trends › By Offense › Article 81 › Navy-Marine Corps, 2025
Short answer: The records hold 22 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2025 that charged Article 81 (conspiracy). 18% of the cases were contested, compared with 37% in all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025. The median confinement was 4 months, the same as across the service.
Mostly Guilty Pleas
18 accused pleaded guilty, and 4 entered a not-guilty or mixed plea. Contested cases made up 18% of the cases with a plea recorded, lower than the 37% for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025.
A mixed plea is guilty to some charges and not guilty to others. Both kinds count as contested.
Sentences Were Similar to the Service Overall
21 of the 22 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge, and 13 of those sentences included confinement (62%). The median confinement was 4 months, the same as for all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025. Among the sentences that included confinement, a quarter were 1 year or longer.
8 convictions (38%) carried no confinement, compared with 31% across the service. Another 8 (38%) carried under 6 months, about the same as the 37% service share. Sentences longer than one year came in 3 of 21 convictions (14%), against 16%.
These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. Each covers every charge in the case.
| Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025 |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 8 | 38% | 31% |
| Under 6 months | 8 | 38% | 37% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 2 | 10% | 16% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 1 | 5% | 11% |
| 5 years or more | 2 | 10% | 5% |
Punitive Discharges
Punitive discharges went to 10 of the 19 enlisted members convicted, 7 of them bad-conduct and 3 dishonorable. Across all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025, 46% of enlisted convictions carried a punitive discharge. The records also show 1 convicted officer or warrant officer, who was not sentenced to dismissal. Without a punitive discharge, an administrative separation is still possible later.
Fewer General Courts-Martial
General courts-martial made up 32% of these cases (7 of 22), and special courts-martial made up the rest. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge.
Companion Charges
20 of the 22 cases charged at least one other article. Article 112a (drug) appeared in 7 cases, Article 128 (assault) in 6, Article 92 (orders violation) in 5, Article 121 (larceny) in 3, and Article 80 (attempt) in 2.
Rank and Location
Among the accused with rank recorded, 14 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 6 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 was an officer or warrant officer. The group was more junior than all Navy and Marine Corps cases in 2025, where 62% were junior enlisted.
San Diego, California had the most of these cases, with 6. Okinawa, Japan and Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had 4 each. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count does not by itself mean a base has more of this offense.
Rule Changes and Limits
Covered offenses, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder, have been referred for prosecution by special trial counsel instead of commanders since December 28, 2023. A case where every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023 is sentenced by the military judge under new sentencing parameters. Because only trial dates are recorded, there is no way to tell which 2025 cases fell under the new rules.
Evidence, plea terms, nonjudicial punishment, and administrative separations are all outside these records. The 22 trials ran from January 2025 through November 2025.
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 81 (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 81 (Conspiracy): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- By Year (hub)
- Navy-Marine Corps Article 81 Cases in 2021 (previous / next)
- Fewer or More? Conspiracy Charges at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2017–2025 (the full trend)
- Conspiracy at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2017: The Year in Numbers
- How Navy-Marine Corps Conspiracy Cases Ended in 2018
- How Navy-Marine Corps Conspiracy Cases Ended in 2019
- How Navy-Marine Corps Conspiracy Cases Ended in 2020
- How Much Confinement for an Article 81 Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps?
- Search every case in Military Trial Results (members)
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.