Junted States of America v. Stephen William Jerrold

490 F.2d 199
CourtCourt of Appeals for the First Circuit
DecidedJanuary 11, 1974
Docket72-1320
StatusPublished

This text of 490 F.2d 199 (Junted States of America v. Stephen William Jerrold) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the First Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Junted States of America v. Stephen William Jerrold, 490 F.2d 199 (1st Cir. 1974).

Opinion

LEVIN H. CAMPBELL, Circuit Judge.

Jerrold’s conviction for refusal to submit to induction in violation of 50 U.S.C. App. § 462(a) was reversed by this court, 480 F.2d 1293 (1st Cir. 1973). After notice of order to report for induction had been mailed to Jerrold but before he had refused to submit thereto, the Local Board had granted him a “courtesy interview” on his post-notice claim for conscientious objector status, and had thereafter refused to reopen his classification. Since it was unclear whether the Local Board had failed to reclassify for jurisdictional reasons, see Ehlert v. United States, 402 U.S. 99, 91 S.Ct. 1319, 28 L.Ed.2d 625 (1971) or had decided the claim on the merits, we declined to hold that Jerrold could be placed in a “no-man’s land in which his conscientious objection claim might later be denied review by the Army on the assumption that the Board had already considered and rejected it as without merit.” 480 F.2d at 1295.

The United States filed a petition for rehearing. Subsequently we granted its motion to stay action on the petition for rehearing until the Supreme Court acted in Musser v. United States and Waldron v. United States, for which certiorari petitions had then been filed but not acted upon. The Supreme Court has now decided these cases, 414 U.S. 31, 94 S. Ct. 196, 36 L.Ed.2d 190 (1973) (per cur-iam), making it clear that under 32 C. F.R. § 1625.2 (1971) as construed in Eh-lert, a Local Board is without any power to reopen in late crystallization conscientious objector cases and that, therefore, the Army could not deem “an expressed or unexpressed indication of the Board’s views of the claim ... a denial of those claims on the merits.” Id. at 38, 94 S.Ct. at 201. Because consideration of Jerrold’s claim would not be foreclosed, the no-man’s land problem disappears. Id. at 40, 94 S.Ct. 202. (Douglas, J., dissenting).

Although the Supreme Court’s decisions would appear to have eliminated the sole ground upon which we reversed Jerrold’s conviction, he now seeks to distinguish his case on the ground that the State Director himself, acting under since-rescinded 32 C.F.R. § 1625.3, had later recommended a reopening of his classification. See Musser, supra at 31, 94 S.Ct. 196 n. 6. We do not see how the State Director’s recommendation to the Local Board, made two months after Jerrold had failed to submit to the induction order in question, was relevant to the prior validity of that order.

Following its second consideration, the Local Board, on December 10, 1970, reopened Jerrold’s classification and reclassified him I-A. A second order to report for induction was mailed on January 26, 1971. Jerrold claims that the subsequent reopening and second induction order turned his post-induction order conscientious objector claims into pre-induction ones, thus avoiding the Ehlert problem. See White v. United States, 422 F.2d 1254 (9th Cir. 1970). But Jerrold was indicted for failure to submit to induction on September 22, 1970. At the time Jerrold refused to submit, his post-induction order conscientious objector claim could not on any theory have been a pre-induc *201 tion one. The reopening and issuance of the second order did not cancel a prior violation of law. United States v. Hos-mer, 434 F.2d 209 (1st Cir. 1970). “[0]nce a valid order to report for induction has been wilfully disobeyed, a crime has been committed, and ‘[w]hat occurs after refusal ... is not relevant to that issue.’ ” United States v. Powers, 413 F.2d 834, 838 (1st Cir.), cert, denied, 396 U.S. 923, 90 S.Ct. 256, 24 L.Ed.2d 205 (1969). Accord, Palmer v. United States, 401 F.2d 226 (9th Cir. 1968). We find no merit in any of Jerrold’s attempts to distinguish his situation from that well-settled rule.

Jerrold made other challenges to the legality of the induction order which we did not discuss in our previous opinion. Jerrold asserted that he made out a prima facie case for a hardship deferment. On December 4, 1969, Jerrold, who was then classified II-S, Informed the Local Board by letter that he had left school and requested a hardship deferment. The Board had previously been advised of his marriage and the birth of a child. The Local Board rejected, without reasons, Jerrold’s hardship claim, and advised him by mail of his rights to personal appearance and appeal. Several days later he wrote to the Board indicating his wish to appeal and requesting a dependency questionnaire form, with which he said he would provide the Board “additional information not enclosed in my previous letter.” Although the Board mailed the form to Jerrold, he never returned it, nor did he forward further information or request a personal appearance. On January 15, 1970, the Local Board forwarded his file to the State Appeal Board which upheld his classification. Jerrold’s December fourth letter, the only evidence of hardship received by the Local Board, does not contain sufficient factual information indicating that “induction into the armed forces would result in extreme hardship (1) to his wife . . . child ...” 32 C.F.R. § 1622.30(b) (1967). See 50 U.S.C. App. § 456(h). “The test is not inconvenience, or even hardship, but extreme hardship.” Weissman v. Officer of the Day, 444 F. 2d 1326 (2d Cir. 1971). The financial data in the letter to the Board consisted of Jerrold’s monthly salary and his assertion that “[t]his money goes for our rent and food of which a large part is needed for my son.” There was no itemized breakdown of living costs or debts. Two outstanding debts totalling $580 were mentioned, but no repayment schedule provided. The Board was not told that there were no other viable sources of income, such as relatives or savings. See Winfield v. Riebel, 438 F. 2d 271, 278 (6th Cir. 1970). Jerrold’s conclusion that his armed services salary would put “a considerable financial strain” on his family does not assert a financial hardship greater than that experienced by many forced to leave civilian life. In the absence of evidence concerning the degree of stress, the Board did not abuse its discretion. Furthermore, since a prima facie case was not made out, the Local Board did not act improperly in failing to state its reasons when it classified Jerrold I-A. United States v. Edwards, 450 F.2d 49 (1st Cir. 1971).

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Related

Mulloy v. United States
398 U.S. 410 (Supreme Court, 1970)
Ehlert v. United States
402 U.S. 99 (Supreme Court, 1971)
Musser v. United States
414 U.S. 31 (Supreme Court, 1974)
Glen Woodson Palmer, Jr. v. United States
401 F.2d 226 (Ninth Circuit, 1968)
United States v. John William Powers
413 F.2d 834 (First Circuit, 1969)
Leslie Robert White v. United States
422 F.2d 1254 (Ninth Circuit, 1970)
United States v. Kevin Thomas Ford
431 F.2d 1310 (First Circuit, 1970)
United States v. Thomas Robert Hosmer
434 F.2d 209 (First Circuit, 1970)
United States v. Jonathan Lippman Edwards
450 F.2d 49 (First Circuit, 1971)
United States v. Wayne Douglas King
455 F.2d 345 (First Circuit, 1972)
United States v. Gilbert Joseph De Liso
468 F.2d 813 (Ninth Circuit, 1972)
United States v. Stephen William Jerrold
480 F.2d 1293 (First Circuit, 1973)
United States v. Glenn D. Stockwell
485 F.2d 700 (First Circuit, 1973)
Weissman v. Officer of the Day
444 F.2d 1326 (Second Circuit, 1971)
Wendt v. Dillin
396 U.S. 899 (Supreme Court, 1969)

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490 F.2d 199, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/junted-states-of-america-v-stephen-william-jerrold-ca1-1974.