William Joy Batelaan v. United States

Appellant was charged with a violation of the Universal Military Training and Service Act, 50 U.S.C.A.Appendix § 451 et seq., in that he knowingly refused to be inducted into the armed forces of the United States.

The facts in this case are substantially the same as those in Shepherd v. United States, 9 Cir., 1954, 217 F.2d 942 . Batelaan was placed by his local board in Class I-A. He asked for a personal appearance which was granted. He claimed to be a conscientious objector. The minutes of the board on the occasion of his personal appearance, showing that the board questioned him as to why he omitted certain facts from his questionnaire, indicate that the board may have doubted his credibility. It there appeared that registrant was employed at Lockheed; that he understood that his work involved the making of munitions of war; he said that “the job at Lockheed is only to get money to live on.”

The board continued Batelaan in Class I-A; he appealed and his file was referred to the Department of Justice. He had a hearing before the hearing officer who recommended that he should be classified in I-A-O, that is to say, as a conscientious objector available for noncombatant military…