> ## 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. # Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Solicitation Charge: How Contested Cases Ended - URL: https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-82-acq-2017-2025/ - Published: 2026-10-30T08:05:03.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-30T08:05:03.000Z - Description: From 2017–2025, 13 contested Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial included an Article 82 (solicitation) charge. Full acquittals came in 2 of 13 (15%), compared with 31% across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years. - Author: Jocelyn C. Stewart - Tags: Understanding Trends, Article 82, Navy-Marine Corps [Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/) › [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) › [Article 82](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-82-courts-martial/) › Fighting a Navy-Marine Corps Solicitatio **Short answer:** From 2017–2025, 13 contested Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial included an Article 82 (solicitation) charge. Full acquittals came in 2 of 13 (15%), compared with 31% across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases in those years. Of 11 convicted enlisted members, 6 received a punitive discharge (55%), compared with 50%. Based on 13 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026 ## Most Cases Ended in Conviction Each case was contested, meaning the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. Of the 13, 2 ended in a full acquittal (15%) and 2 in a partial acquittal (15%). The full-acquittal rate was lower than the 31% across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases from 2017 through 2025. In all, 11 cases ended in a conviction on at least one charge. ## Sentences Confinement was part of 7 of the 11 sentences (64%). The median confinement was 9 months, longer than the 7 months across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal, and they cover every charge in the case. Among the 11 enlisted members convicted, 6 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge (55%), and 2 of those were dishonorable. The share across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases was 50%. ## Solicitation Was Always Charged With Something Else All 13 cases charged at least one other article. Article 134 (general article) appeared in 6\. Article 80 (attempt), Article 112a (drug), and Article 81 (conspiracy) appeared in 4 each, and Article 131b (obstruction, numbered since 2019) in 2. ## Rank and Court Level The accused were 9 junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4), 3 NCOs (E-5 to E-9), and 1 officer or warrant officer. Across all contested Navy and Marine Corps cases, 49% of the accused were junior enlisted, so this group was more junior. General courts-martial made up 69% of the cases (9 of 13), and special courts-martial heard the rest. ## Years and Law Changes The trials ran from May 2017 to December 2025: 1 in 2017, 1 in 2018, 0 in 2019, 2 in 2020, 4 in 2021, 1 in 2022, 1 in 2023, 1 in 2024, and 2 in 2025\. From January 1, 2019, the Military Justice Act of 2016 applied to cases with offenses after that date. It fixed panel sizes, allowed judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and required written plea agreements. Cases with offenses from before 2019 stayed under the old rules. On December 28, 2023, prosecution decisions for covered offenses, such as sexual assault, domestic violence, and murder, passed to special trial counsel, and judge sentencing within parameters followed for offenses after December 27, 2023\. Without offense dates, the records cannot show which rules governed a given trial. ## What Is Missing Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea and forum. The records do not describe the evidence or the plea terms, and cases resolved by nonjudicial punishment, administrative separation, or no action are not included. 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 82 (solicitation) (13 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 82 (Soliciting): Court-Martial Data and Trends](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/article-82-courts-martial/) (hub) - [By Offense](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/by-offense/) (hub) - [Navy-Marine Corps Article 82 Cases by the Numbers, 2017–2025](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-82-trend-2017-2025/) - [How Much Confinement for an Article 82 Conviction in the Navy-Marine Corps?](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-82-sent-2017-2025/) - [When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Guilty to Solicitation](https://www.bodiesburied.com/trends/navy-marine-corps-article-82-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.