> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.bodiesburied.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # How Often Are Contested Navy-Marine Corps Article 81 Cases Acquitted? - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-81-acq-2017-2025/ - Published: 2026-10-28T08:06:20.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-30T05:13:17.000Z - Description: In contested Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial with an Article 81 conspiracy charge, 3 of 32 (9%) ended in a full acquittal in 2017–2025. That compares with 31% across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 81, Navy-Marine Corps [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 81](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-81-courts-martial/) › How Often Are Contested Navy-Marine Corp **Short answer:** In contested Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial with an Article 81 conspiracy charge, 3 of 32 (9%) ended in a full acquittal in 2017–2025\. That compares with 31% across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases. Of convicted enlisted members, 67% received a punitive discharge, compared with 50% for all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases. Based on 32 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026 ## Most Cases Ended in a Conviction Article 81 makes it a crime to agree with another person to commit an offense under the code when one of them acts to carry it out. The Navy and Marine Corps records hold 32 contested courts-martial with a conspiracy charge, tried from March 2018 through October 2025\. In every case, the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. There were 0 guilty pleas. Only 9% of those cases ended in a full acquittal, lower than the 31% for all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases. Another 6 were partial acquittals, meaning not guilty of at least one charge or specification but guilty of another. In all, 29 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. ## Conspiracy Was Always Charged With Something Else Every case, 32 of the 32, charged at least one other article. A conspiracy charge is based on an agreement to commit some other offense. The most common other charge was Article 112a (drug), in 12 cases. Article 107 (false official statement) appeared in 10, Article 134 (general article) in 7, and Article 92 (orders violation) and Article 131b (obstruction, numbered since 2019) in 6 each. An adjudged sentence covers every charge in the case, so the sentences below are for the whole case, not for the conspiracy charge alone. ## Discharges Were Mostly Bad-Conduct A punitive discharge followed 67% of enlisted convictions, higher than the 50% across contested Navy and Marine Corps cases. Of those, 13 were bad-conduct discharges and 3 were dishonorable. Of 2 convicted officers or warrant officers, 1 was dismissed. Dismissal is the officer equivalent of a punitive discharge. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation. ## Confinement Mostly Under a Year Of 29 convictions, 22 sentences included confinement (76%). The median confinement was 6 months, slightly shorter than the 7 months across contested Navy and Marine Corps cases. Sentences longer than one year followed 6 of 29 convictions (21%), compared with 24% in all contested cases. Most sentences were 1 year or less. Under 6 months made up 28% of convictions, and 6 months to 1 year made up another 28%, compared with 14% for that band in all contested cases. No confinement followed 24% of convictions, compared with 34%. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal. | Adjudged confinement | Convictions | Share here | Share, all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years | | ------------------------------- | ----------- | ---------- | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | No confinement | 7 | 24% | 34% | | Under 6 months | 8 | 28% | 28% | | 6 months to 1 year | 8 | 28% | 14% | | More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4 | 14% | 16% | | 5 years or more | 2 | 7% | 8% | ## Little Difference Between Court Levels General courts-martial tried 17 cases and special courts-martial tried 15\. The general share, 53%, is the same as the 53% across contested Navy and Marine Corps cases. Confinement rates were about the same: 75% of convictions at general courts-martial and 77% at special courts-martial. The median confinement was 1 year at the general level and 6 months at the special level. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and cannot impose a dishonorable discharge. ## Who Was Charged and Where Among the accused with rank recorded, 18 were junior enlisted (E-1 to E-4), 9 were NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 2 were officers or warrant officers. That is more junior than all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases, where 49% were junior enlisted. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina and Norfolk, Virginia had 6 cases each, Jacksonville, Florida and Camp Pendleton, California had 3 each, and San Diego, California had 2\. Those five locations account for 62% of the 32 cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind. ## Most Cases Were Tried in 2021 The yearly count was uneven: 4 in 2018, 2 in 2020, 13 in 2021, 4 in 2022, 5 in 2023, and 4 in 2025, with no cases in 2017, 2019, or 2024\. The records cannot show why 2021 had the most cases. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea and forum, and contested counts here use only the records that list them. ## Law Changes and Unrecorded Details Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel, not commanders, decide whether to prosecute covered offenses such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder. And when every guilty finding in a case is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records give trial dates only, so trials from 2024 on include cases under both the old and the new rules. Trial records do not show the evidence, the plea terms, or conduct handled outside a court-martial. Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: [UCMJ change timeline](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/ucmj-change-timeline/). ### How We Counted Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial tried 2017–2025: where the accused contested a charge under Article 81 (conspiracy) (32 cases), compared with all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years. Source: public court-martial records (Article 140a, UCMJ) in [Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/military-trial-results/), data updated October 24, 2026\. Definitions, sources, and known gaps: [how this data was built](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/how-the-military-trial-results-data-was-built/). Errors: content@bodiesburied.com. ## Related Analysis - [Article 81 (Conspiracy): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-81-courts-martial/) (hub) - [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) (hub) - [Fewer or More? Conspiracy Charges at Navy-Marine Corps Courts-Martial, 2017–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-81-trend-2017-2025/) - [How Much Confinement for an Article 81 Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-81-sent-2017-2025/) - [When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Guilty to Conspiracy](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-81-plea-2017-2025/) - [Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps AWOL Charge: How Contested Cases Ended](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-86-acq-2017-2025/) - [Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Child Sexual Abuse Charge: How Contested Cases Ended](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-120b-acq-2017-2025/) - [Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Conduct Unbecoming Charge: How Contested Cases Ended](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-133-acq-2017-2025/) - [Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Disobeying An Officer Charge: How Contested Cases Ended](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-90-acq-2017-2025/) - [Search every case in Military Trial Results](https://www.bodiesburied.com/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](https://www.ucmj-defender.com/?ref=bodiesburied.com). This analysis is for education and information only. It is not legal advice, and every case is different.