When Navy-Marine Corps Accused Plead Guilty to Desertion
In 34 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2017–2025 where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 85 (desertion), every conviction carried confinement. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 6 months for all guilty pleas in those services.
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Short answer: In 34 Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial from 2017–2025 where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 85 (desertion), every conviction carried confinement. The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 6 months for all guilty pleas in those services. Punitive discharges were more common: 81% of convicted enlisted members received one, compared with 60% across all guilty pleas.
Shorter Confinement, More Discharges
This post covers only guilty pleas: Navy and Marine Corps cases from 2017–2025 in which the accused pleaded guilty to a set of charges that included desertion. The comparison group is every guilty plea in the Navy and Marine Corps over the same years. Compared with that group, confinement was shorter and punitive discharges were more common.
The median confinement was 3 months, compared with 6 months for all guilty pleas. A quarter of sentences were 9 months or longer. Of 32 convicted enlisted members, 26 received a punitive discharge: 22 bad-conduct and 4 dishonorable. That share is higher than the 60% for all guilty pleas.
No Sentence Without Confinement
All 34 convictions included confinement. Across all guilty pleas in the Navy and Marine Corps, 15% of convictions carried no confinement. No sentence in this group was without confinement.
Most sentences were short. Of the convictions, 21 (62%) were under 6 months, compared with 40% for all guilty pleas. Another 9 were in the 6 months to 1 year band. 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 guilty pleas in those years |
|---|---|---|---|
| No confinement | 0 | 0% | 15% |
| Under 6 months | 21 | 62% | 40% |
| 6 months to 1 year | 9 | 26% | 24% |
| More than 1 year, under 5 years | 4 | 12% | 16% |
| 5 years or more | 0 | 0% | 5% |
Long Sentences Were Uncommon
Sentences longer than one year were less common than in all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas: 4 of 34 convictions (12%), compared with 21%. No conviction was 5 years or more, compared with 5% of all guilty pleas.
Only a general court-martial can adjudge more than one year of confinement, and general courts-martial heard only 26% of these cases (9 of 34). Special courts-martial heard the rest. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and can impose a bad-conduct discharge but not a dishonorable one. A general court-martial can impose any lawful sentence.
Most Cases Included Other Charges
Only 6 of the 34 cases charged Article 85 by itself. Article 112a (drug) was the most common other charge, in 14 cases. Article 86 (AWOL) appeared in 8, Article 87 (missing movement) in 6, and Article 107 (false official statement) and Article 128 (assault) in 5 each.
The sentence covers the whole case, so the confinement and discharge figures include desertion and these other findings. The records do not divide a sentence among the charges.
Mostly Junior Enlisted Members
The accused were 27 junior enlisted members, 5 NCOs, and 2 officers. The group is more junior than all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years. Of the 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, which these records do not show.
Installations and Years
Norfolk, Virginia tried 15 of these cases. Camp Lejeune, North Carolina tried 6, Bremerton, Washington 4, San Diego, California 2, and New Orleans, Louisiana 1. Together these five account for 82% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind, so a high count alone does not show a problem at any one base.
The trials took place from May 2017 to December 2025: 2 in 2017, 2 in 2018, 1 in 2019, 3 in 2020, 6 in 2021, 9 in 2022, 6 in 2023, 3 in 2024, and 2 in 2025.
Rule Changes Across These Years
The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge and brought in written plea agreements. Cases with offenses from before 2019 kept the old rules. Since December 28, 2023, special trial counsel decide whether to prosecute covered offenses. New sentencing parameters apply when every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023.
These rules depend on offense dates, which the records do not give, so the records cannot show which rules applied to each case.
What the Records Do Not Show
Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so earlier desertion cases that ended in a guilty plea may be missing from this count. The records also do not show the evidence, the plea agreement terms, or cases handled through nonjudicial punishment or administrative separation.
Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.
How We Counted
Navy and Marine Corps courts-martial tried 2017–2025: where the accused pleaded guilty to charges including Article 85 (desertion) (34 cases), compared with all Navy and Marine Corps guilty pleas in those years.
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 85 (Desertion): Court-Martial Data and Trends (hub)
- Sentences (hub)
- Is Navy-Marine Corps Desertion Prosecution Rising or Falling? Article 85, 2017–2025
- What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps Desertion Conviction?
- Not Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Article 85 Cases: What Happened at Trial
- When Army Accused Plead Guilty to Desertion (another service)
- Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps AWOL Cases: How Often, and What Came Next
- Guilty Pleas in Navy-Marine Corps Assault Cases: How Often, and What Came Next
- 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.