United States v. Lawrence Wendt

452 F.2d 679, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 6784
CourtCourt of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit
DecidedDecember 3, 1971
Docket71-1976
StatusPublished
Cited by5 cases

This text of 452 F.2d 679 (United States v. Lawrence Wendt) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Court of Appeals for the Ninth 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. Lawrence Wendt, 452 F.2d 679, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 6784 (9th Cir. 1971).

Opinion

J. WARREN MADDEN, Judge:

The appellant, Wendt, having been indicted for wilfully and knowingly refusing to submit to induction in violation of the Selective Service Act of 1967, was tried and found guilty on March 12, 1971, in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California. On April 9, 1971, that Court sentenced Wendt to three years probation with two years of that time to be spent in alternate civilian work of national importance. Wendt has appealed to this Court from the judgment of the District Court.

On December 18, 1967, Selective Service sent to appellant a notice by mail directing him to report on January 2, 1968, for his Armed Forces Physical Examination. That direction was modified and he was, on April 15, 1968, given a complete physical examination and was found to be fully qualified, at that time, for induction into the Armed Forces. Selective Service on May 9, 1968, mailed to appellant a formal statement that he had been found acceptable.

The Evidence of Refusal to Submit to Induction

On February 11, 1969, appellant’s Local Selective Service Board received a letter from the appellant inquiring about the status of an appeal from his classification which appeal had been previously requested. The letter expressed the low opinion which the appellant entertained concerning the Selective Service System and the Armed Forces.

On June 3, 1969, the appellant was classified I-A, by the appropriate Appeals Board.

On June 4, 1969, the Local Board received a letter from the appellant dated June 1, 1969, in which letter appellant enclosed his Selective Service Registration Certificate (Draft Card) and his Notice of Classification. He said in the letter that he intended not to cooperate further with the Selective Service System, and he expressed his distaste for colleges and universities, for the Selective Service System, and for the Armed Forces and military discipline.

On July 17, 1969, an Order to Report for Induction was mailed to appellant, directing him to report on August 6, 1969. He appeared on August 6, but refused to submit to medical examination, thereby preventing his actual induction into the Armed Forces.

*681 After appellant’s indictment for the crime of refusing to submit to induction, in violation of the Selective Service Act of 1967, it became necessary for the Government to prove, at the trial of the appellant on the indictment that he had in fact refused to submit to induction. The appellant urges, in the appeal now before us, that the Government did not prove that crucial fact. The Government says that it did put in, at the trial, evidence that the appellant did in fact refuse to submit to induction. That evidence was a letter from the Assistant Adjutant of the Armed Forces Examining and Entrance Station which letter stated that the appellant had refused to submit to induction. The appellant says that the Assistant Adjutant’s letter was nothing more than written hearsay, inadmissible in evidence by reason of the “Hearsay Rule”. The Government responds that the kind of hearsay involved in the Assistant Adjutant’s letter is admissible under an “Exception” to the “Hearsay Rule” which exception has been created by this Court in prior decisions. The Government cites United States v. Lloyd, 9th Cir., 431 F.2d 160 (1970) and LaPorte v. United States, 9th Cir., 300 F.2d 878 (1962). It was decided in these prior cases that an authenticated copy of a registrant’s Selective Service file, including letters and documents in the file, is admissible in evidence when the registrant is charged with a violation of the Selective Service Act. The Government also urges that the letter in question was admissible under the statutory exception to the Hearsay Rule contained in § 1733 of Title 28 U.S.C. We do not decide the question of the admissibility of the letter on the alternative ground urged by the Government.

There is no real question as to the appellant’s refusal to submit to induction. The appellant raised the question, as he had a right to do, in order to test the admissibility of the Government’s evidence that he had committed the crime of which he was charged. We have held, above, that the evidence was admissible.

The Time of the Appellant’s Physical Examination

The appellant argues that his Local Selective Service Board, when it issued its order to him to report for induction violated 32 Code of Federal Regulations [C.F.R.] 1631.7(a) when it issued that order because the order was issued more than one year after appellant’s last pre-induction physical examination. We have said hereinabove, that the Local Board had directed the appellant to report for his Armed Forces Physical Examination ; that he had so reported and, on April 15, 1968, had been given a complete physical examination and had been found fully qualified, at that time, for induction into the Armed Forces; that, on May 9, 1968, his Local Board had mailed to the appellant a formal notice that he had been found acceptable.

The Board’s Order to Report for Induction, had, as we have seen, been issued on July 17, 1969, and had set August 6, 1969, as the date on which he was to report. He did report on that date, which date was more than one year after April 15, 1968, the date on which he had had his physical examination, and more than one year after May 9, 1968, the date on which he had been formally notified of his acceptability for service.

The appellant cites Army Regulation [AR] 40-501, Ch. 10, § 10-17, which says:

a. Medical examinations will be valid for the purpose and within the periods set forth below provided there has been no significant change in the individual’s medical condition.

(1) One year from date of medical examination to qualify for induction.

* * * * -X- -X-

When, on August 6, 1969, the appellant appeared at the induction station, he was asked by the Army to submit to a physical examination. He refused. The record does not show what reason, if any, he gave for his refusal. In a let *682 ter to his Local Board received February-11, 1969, he had said emphatically that he would no longer cooperate with the Board. The effect of the appellant’s refusal to be physically examined by the Army made it impossible for him to be inducted into the Army, and was a refusal to be inducted.

The appellant argues that his refusal to submit to the physical examination was justified because the Selective Service Administration was proposing that he take his physical examination on August 6, and, if he passed the examination, he was, on that same day, to be inducted into the Army. He quotes 32 C. F.R. 1631.7(a), which is a Selective Service Regulation, which says:

Each local board, upon receiving a Notice of Call on Local Board (SSS Form No. 201) from the State Director of Selective Service (1) for a specified number of men to be delivered for induction . . .

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Bluebook (online)
452 F.2d 679, 1971 U.S. App. LEXIS 6784, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/united-states-v-lawrence-wendt-ca9-1971.