10 U.S.C. § 879
Section 879 · Art. 79. Conviction of lesser included offense
Amended 2 times on record
Applied in 64 court decisions — leading case United States v. Baker (1983)
Most recently applied in United States v. Riggins (January 2016)
How often courts cite this section
Court decisions citing this, by year.Markers show enactment, consequential amendments, and circuit splits over this section — watch for a citation surge after a change or a disagreement. The dip in the last several years is a data-coverage gap, not a real trend — our corpus holds fewer opinions from the most recent years, so recent citations are undercounted.
(a) In General.—An accused may be found guilty of any of the following:
(1) The offense charged.
(2) A lesser included offense.
(3) An attempt to commit the offense charged.
(4) An attempt to commit a lesser included offense, if the attempt is an offense in its own right.
(b) Lesser Included Offense Defined.—In this section (article), the term "lesser included offense" means—
(1) an offense that is necessarily included in the offense charged; and
(2) any lesser included offense so designated by regulation prescribed by the President.
(c) Regulatory Authority.—Any designation of a lesser included offense in a regulation referred to in subsection (b) shall be reasonably included in the greater offense.
Editorial notes U.S. Code · Office of the Law Revision Counsel
Amendments
2016—Pub. L. 114–328 amended section generally. Prior to amendment, text read as follows: "An accused may be found guilty of an offense necessarily included in the offense charged or of an attempt to commit either the offense charged or an offense necessarily included therein."
Effective Date of 2016 Amendment
Amendment by Pub. L. 114–328 effective on Jan. 1, 2019, as designated by the President, with implementing regulations and provisions relating to applicability to various situations, see section 5542 of Pub. L. 114–328 and Ex. Ord. No. 13825, set out as notes under section 801 of this title.