What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corps Resisting Apprehension Conviction?

Trends › By Offense › Article 87a › What Sentence Follows a Navy-Marine Corp

Based on 33 cases · 2017–2025 · Navy and Marine Corps records · data updated October 24, 2026

A Discharge Followed Most Convictions

This page covers only courts-martial that ended in a conviction under Article 87a, the article on resisting apprehension, in the Navy and Marine Corps. Every one of the 33 people convicted was enlisted.

Of those 33, 25 received a bad-conduct or dishonorable discharge, and 2 of those were dishonorable. The 76% rate is higher than the 62% across all Navy and Marine Corps convictions in the same years. A sentence without a punitive discharge does not rule out a later administrative separation, which these records do not show.

Every Case Included Other Charges

In all 33 cases, at least one other article was charged with Article 87a. The most common other charges were Article 128 assault in 10 cases, Article 86 unauthorized absence in 9, Article 112a drug offenses in 9, Article 92 orders violations in 8, and Article 121 larceny in 8.

A sentence covers every charge in the case. The confinement and discharge numbers are for cases with several offenses, and resisting apprehension is one of them.

Almost Every Conviction Brought Confinement

Of the 33 convictions, 32 carried confinement. Only 3% had no confinement, compared with 18% of all Navy and Marine Corps convictions. The median confinement was 6 months, the same as the service median. A quarter of the sentences were 1.1 years or longer.

Sentences under 6 months made up 42% of these convictions, compared with 35% across the service. Sentences of 6 months to 1 year made up 27%, compared with 22%. Sentences longer than one year followed 9 of 33 convictions (27%), compared with 25%, and 2 convictions were 5 years or more. These are adjudged sentences, before any plea-agreement cap, clemency, or appeal.

Sentences by Court Level

Of the 33 cases, 11 were general courts-martial (33%, compared with 41% across Navy and Marine Corps convictions) and 22 were special courts-martial. At general courts-martial, the median confinement was 1.5 years, and 5 of the 9 with a plea listed were contested. At special courts-martial, the median was 4 months, and 8% were contested.

The court levels can impose different sentences. A general court-martial can adjudge any lawful sentence, including more than one year of confinement and a dishonorable discharge. A special court-martial caps confinement at one year and can impose a bad-conduct discharge but not a dishonorable one.

Pleas on Record

Only 21 of the 33 records list a plea. Of those, 15 were guilty pleas and 6 were contested, meaning the accused pleaded not guilty to at least one charge. The contested share, 29%, is higher than the 24% for all Navy and Marine Corps convictions.

Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea, so the share uses only the cases with a recorded plea. Every case on this page ended in a conviction, so each contested case here ended in a conviction on at least one charge.

Mostly Junior Enlisted Members

By rank, 30 of the accused were junior enlisted members (E-1 to E-4) and 3 were NCOs. No officers appear. The group was more junior than all Navy and Marine Corps convictions.

Where and When

Camp Lejeune, North Carolina had the most cases, 11. Camp Pendleton, California had 6, Marine Corps Base Hawaii, Kaneohe Bay 4, Bremerton, Washington 3, and Quantico, Virginia 2. These 5 installations account for 79% of the cases. Larger installations try more cases of every kind.

There were few cases each year: 6 in 2017, 3 in each of 2018, 2019, and 2020, 6 in 2021, 3 in 2022, 2 in 2023, 5 in 2024, and 2 in 2025.

Rule Changes Across the Period

The Military Justice Act of 2016 took effect on January 1, 2019. It set fixed panel sizes, created judge-alone special courts-martial capped at six months with no punitive discharge, and introduced written plea agreements. Cases with offenses before 2019 kept the old rules. When every guilty finding is for an offense after December 27, 2023, the military judge sets the sentence within new sentencing parameters. The records give no offense dates, so trials from 2024 on include cases under both the old and the new rules.

What the Records Do Not Show

The records show charges, pleas, findings, and sentences. They do not show the evidence, plea terms, or circumstances of the apprehension. Navy and Marine Corps records before December 2020 often omit the plea. Conduct handled outside a court-martial is not included.

Dates and sources for the law changes mentioned here: UCMJ change timeline.

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.