United States v. Bruce Todd Maine

417 F.2d 951
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit
DecidedJanuary 2, 1970
Docket107-69
StatusPublished
Cited by13 cases

This text of 417 F.2d 951 (United States v. Bruce Todd Maine) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
United States v. Bruce Todd Maine, 417 F.2d 951 (10th Cir. 1970).

Opinions

LEWIS, Circuit Judge.

This is an appeal from a judgment and sentence entered by the United States District Court for the District of Colorado after a jury found appellant guilty of unlawfully refusing to submit to induction into the armed forces, a violation of 50 U.S.C.App. § 462. Appellant contends his order of induction to have been void as a matter of law for procedural failures occurring both before and after his admitted refusal to accept induction. The relevant facts may be summarized.

[953]*953After first exhausting a student deferment, appellant was classified by his Local Board as I-A on December 1,1967. No appeal was taken. On May 31, 1968, following orderly procedures including notification of physical acceptance, appellant was mailed an Order to Report for Induction on June 20, 1968. After receiving the induction order, appellant appeared at his Local Board on June 13, 1968, and requested a Special Form for Conscientious Objectors (Selective Service Form 150). This form was completed and returned to the Local Board on June 17, 1968, along with an attached letter. The defendant signed part B of the form1 and explained the nature of his religious beliefs as follows:

God is the creator of all things. Therefore all authority is derived from God alone. Because he is the first and the supreme authority all human obligations are manifest in him and fulfilled only through him * * *
I believe in force only as a means of restraint. That is without any physical or moral damages [sic] inflicted upon the person or persons * * * [against whom] this restraint is being enforced.

The filing further indicated that prior public expression of appellant’s religious beliefs had been made on Sunday, June 16, 1968, before the assembled congregation of the First United Presbyterian Church of Englewood. An attached letter from the minister of that church stated that the congregation, after hearing the appellant express his beliefs, had voted to support him in his claims for conscientious objector status. Appellant also stated that “[t]he lateness of this form is due to the misunderstanding that took place between Local #13 [the appellant’s Local Board] and myself concerning the results of my physical.”

The Local Board refused to reopen appellant’s classification noting in its minutes: “6/18/68 [form] 150 reviewed by the Board, decision no change in status resulting from circumstances over which registrant has no control, therefore Local Board is without authority to re-open classification or cancel induction order.” Such action, so says appellant, was violative of 32 C.F.R. 1625.2 which provides in pertinent part:

When registrant’s classification may be reopened and considered anew.— The local board may reopen and consider anew the classification of a registrant (a) upon the written request of the registrant * * * if such request is accompanied by written information presenting facts not considered when the registrant was classified, which, if true, would justify a change in the registrant’s classification; * * * provided, in either event, that classification of a registrant shall not be reopened after the local board has mailed to such registrant an Order to Report for Induction (SSS Form No. 252) * * * unless the local board first specifically finds there has been a change in the registrant’s status resulting from circumstances over which the registrant has no control.

In interpreting the cited regulation, this court has twice held that a crystallization of beliefs of conscientious objection, occurring after the issuance of an induction order, can constitute “a change in status resulting from circumstances over which the registrant had no control.” Keene v. United States, 10 Cir., 266 F.2d 378; Martinez v. United States, 10 Cir., 384 F.2d 50. The rule established by these cases is grounded on a recognition of the competing considerations inherent in the problem at which Regulation 1625.2 is directed. On the one hand, the nature of the function discharged by the Selective Service System demands that Local Board action with respect to individual classifications be finalized at a predictable and discrete point in the administrative process. The date of the issuance [954]*954of an induction order is the obvious juncture at which to set this finalization. On the other hand, the need to prevent the manifest injustices which may obtain from undifferentiated application of this cut-off point requires the availability of an administrative remedy when an individual registrant is presented with conditions over which he has no control. No “condition” save those designated by law as bearing on a registrant’s draft status would justify the reopening of a classification under Regulation 1625.2. Conversely, no circumstance not subjectively controlled which could, under law, affect the draft status of a registrant can justifiably be excluded from consideration. However, this rule has no controlling application to this aspect of the case at bar. The appellant here did not, either through his conduct or statements, reveal in any substantial way that his religious beliefs —however sincere they may have been— took final shape and became compelling upon him at some time after he had received the induction order of May 31, 1969. Nowhere in the form 150 submitted June 17 to the Board did appellant state the time of fruition of his conscientious objection to military service.2 Moreover, in the letter attached to the form, he stated that the “lateness” of his application was due to confusion over the results of his physical examination. On the basis of these facts, the Local Board was fully justified in proceeding as it did. Its action finds support both in 32 C.F.R. 1625.1(b) which requires that a registrant must report any information affecting his classification within ten days and in this court’s indication that this regulation is applicable to the crystallization of religious beliefs. Keene v. United States, supra, 266 F.2d at 384.

Appellant’s contention that he was not accorded procedural due process within the Selective Service after his refusal to submit to induction is somewhat tenuous for no procedural irregularity appears in the Selective Service file. Appellant asserts, however, that the record testimony reflects prejudicial noncompliance with Local Board Memorandum No. 14, issued November 19, 1948, as amended October 12, 1965, by the National Director of Selective Service. Memorandum No. 14 provides in pertinent part:

1. Purpose. — The purpose of this memorandum is to inform local boards that the procedures to be followed when a registrant, after being delivered to the joint examining and induction station, refuses to submit to the physical examination or mental test, or when a registrant fails to report for, or submit to induction. ******

8. Local Board Procedure.

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United States v. Bruce Todd Maine
417 F.2d 951 (Tenth Circuit, 1970)
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Bluebook (online)
417 F.2d 951, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-bruce-todd-maine-ca10-1970.