United States v. Gormly

136 F.2d 227, 1943 U.S. App. LEXIS 3002
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit
DecidedJune 9, 1943
DocketNo. 8244
StatusPublished
Cited by9 cases

This text of 136 F.2d 227 (United States v. Gormly) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Seventh 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. Gormly, 136 F.2d 227, 1943 U.S. App. LEXIS 3002 (7th Cir. 1943).

Opinion

EVANS, Circuit Judge.

Defendant appeals from a sentence imposed upon a jury’s verdict finding him guilty of a charge of failure to report, under the Selective Service Act, 50 U.S.C.A. Appendix, § 301 et seq., for transportation to a conscientious objectors’ camp. The Local Draft Board’s order was issued August 11, 1942, directing appellant to report on August 24, 1942. He refused to report.

Reversal of judgment is sought because: (1) The term for which the grand jury was impaneled had expired before the return of the instant indictment. (2) The “order” directing the defendant to report, on which the indictment was based, was signed simply by one “Davlin, Member of Local Board.” (3) Internment in a conscientious objectors’ camp constitutes involuntary servitude and prevents free exercise of religious beliefs, in violation of the Federal Constitution. (4) The trial below was unfair and the court prejudiced. (5) The indictment was vague, insufficient, and void. (6) The Selective Service Act is invalid. Other grounds are advanced, which we do not specifically state or discuss as they are clearly without merit.

Appellant was 28 years of age, a college graduate, mechanical engineer. He registered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, under the Draft Law. He filled in and filed the special form for Conscientious Objectors, and was classified by his local board in class IV-E (Preferred and limited to Conscientious Objectors). He had worked as a taxi driver in Milwaukee, and at the time of trial was employed in a hospital laboratory, where his services were considered satisfactory.

In June, 1942, the Wisconsin Selective Service was notified by the Chief of Camp Operations Division, that defendant had been assigned to the conscientious objectors’ camp at Merom, Indiana, and to report July 21, 1942. The letter ended:

“When he has reported, you will forward copies of the Form 50 for your files and for his original local board.”

This letter was sent to the Local Board. The Local Board carried on some correspondence as to whether the appellant had been assigned to the proper camp due to a question arising out of a change in his [229]*229residence. On July 16, 1942, the National Director of Selective Service wrote to the State Director re application, stating:

“ * * * (Appellant) who * * * has been classified in Class IV-E as being conscientiously opposed to both combatant and noncombatant military service is hereby assigned to work of national importance and by order of said Local Board per DSS. Form 50 will be delivered to * * * (Merom, Indiana) on Aug. 24, 1942. State Headquarters will immediately submit one copy of this form to the Local Board * * *. Note that the time for reporting to the civilian camp is specified and this, D. S. S. Form 49 must reach the Local Board so that D. S. S. Form 50 can be mailed to the Registrant in time to allow 10 days’ notice before reporting for transportation. Upon receipt of this notice, the Local Board shall prepare six copies of Order to Report for Work of National Importance (D.S.S.Form 50) * *

On August 7, the State Headquarters wrote the Local Board notifying them to send out Form 50.

The Order to Report, over the signature of but one of the Local Board’s members, was sent to appellant. No question of its reception by defendant is raised.

When appellant did not report pursuant to Form 50, the Local Board sent him a follow-up notice, August 24, 1942, again directing him to report by mail, telegraph or in person, to the Local Board by the 29th of August, and stating that failure so to do is an offense punishable under the statute. This notice was also signed by one member of the Board.

Appellant never reported for transportation to the conscientious objectors’ camp, although he communicated with the Local Board by phone and letter. He was apprehended by the police while distributing a conscientious objectors’ magazine.

It is not necessary to discuss, at length, issues 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6. They have been sufficiently treated in the case of United States v. Mroz, 136 F.2d 221, decided by this Court, June 3, 1943.

The chief issue is the legal sufficiency of the August 11 order of the Local Draft Board to appellant to report for transportation to the conscientious objectors’ camp, the violation of which notice is the basis of the instant indictment. Appellant contends the order was not the result of action by the Btoard sitting en banc. He also contends that an indictment if predicable at all, should have been based on the followup order which is not mentioned in the indictment, and which seemingly gave appellant a “second chance.”

The indictment charged that on August 24, 1942, appellant was “a person charged with the duty of carrying out a direction given under the * * Act * * a direction or order issued by Local Board * * to report on the 24th day of August, 1942 for work of national importance

The argument challenging the validity of the order to report because signed by a single member and with no evidence of Board action to support it, must be rejected.

Sec. 305, Title 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix concerns the procedure for determining the status of a conscientious objector. It provides that if a person be found to be a conscientious objector he shall be assigned to work of national importance under civilian direction. The statute requires all conscientious objectors to be listed by the local boards. The Regulations (652.1 and 652.2) concern the assignment of conscientious objectors to work of national importance and require the local board to notify immediately the Director of Selective Service on a particular form that the conscientious objector is available for assignment, such notice to be signed by “a member of the local board.” Then the Regulations provide that the Director of Selective Service, upon receipt of such notice “shall assign the registrant to a camp” and the assignment shall be made on a specific form (No. 49) and forwarded to the draft board. Reg. 652.11 provides that the local board upon receipt of Form No. 49 “shall prepare * * * Order to Report for Work of National Importance (Form 50) * * * ” and “proceed as follows: * * * mail the original * * * to the registrant.” The Regulation goes on to provide:

“When an Order to Report for Work of ■ National Importance (Form 50) is mailed or delivered to a registrant as hereinbefore provided, it shall be his duty to comply therewith, to report to the camp at the time and place designated therein, and to thereafter perform work of national importance under civilian direction for the period, at the place, and in the manner pro-' vided by law.”

Reg. 603.59 covers the signing of the Draft Board’s orders:

[230]*230“Official papers issued by a local board may be signed by the clerk ‘by direction of the local board’ if he is authorized to do so by a resolution duly adopted by and entered in the minutes of such local board,, provided that the chairman or a member )f a local board must sign a particular paper when specifically required to do so by the provisions of a regulation * *

It thus appears that the Order to Report was not a discretionary order of the Local Draft Board requiring the meeting of the Board and a determination of the Board to issue it.

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Bluebook (online)
136 F.2d 227, 1943 U.S. App. LEXIS 3002, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-gormly-ca7-1943.