United States v. Alan R. Mount

438 F.2d 1072

• Court: Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
• Decided: February 5, 1971
• Docket: 24902
• Status: Published

Opinions

PER CURIAM.

Alan R. Mount has appealed his conviction of refusing to submit to induction. (50 U.S.C. App. § 462). We reverse.

Before being ordered to report for induction, Mount had duly filed a Form 150 seeking reclassification from 1-A to 1-0 (conscientious objector), his local board had denied reclassification without explanation, and the appeal board had sustained that action.

In United States v. Haughton, 413 F.2d 736 (9 Cir., 1969) this court reversed the conviction of a registrant whose claim for conscientious objector status was similarly rejected. We held that “The local board must state the reasons for its denial of a registration classification when a registrant has ‘met the statutory criteria’ (citation omitted) for that classification, or in the language of Dickinson (Dickinson v. United States, 346 U.S. 389, 397, 74 S.Ct. 152, 98 L.Ed. 132 (1953)) has placed himself ‘prima facie within the statutory exemption.’ ”

. That rule is applicable. Mount’s statements in his Form 150, although térse and inartfully juvenile, do tend to show that he was “by reason of religious training and belief conscientiously opposed to war in any form.”