Timothy Martinetto v. United States

Timothy Martinetto, classified in the Selective Service System as 1-0 (conscientious objector opposed to combatant or noncombatant service in the Armed Forces), failed to obey an order of his local board to appear before it to receive instructions to report to the Los Angeles County Department of Charities. He was indicted for having knowingly failed to report to the board in violation of section 12(a) of the Universal Military Training and Service Act (Act), 62 Stat. 622 (1948), 50 U.S.C. App. § 462(a) (1964). After a jury trial, Martinetto was convicted and sentenced, and takes this appeal.

Martinetto registered with Local Board No. 114, Downey, California, on July 17, 1961. In his classification questionnaire, filed on February 28, 1964, he indicated that, as a member of Jehovah’s Witnesses, he was a conscientious objector. On March 11, 1964, Martinetto filed with the local board a completed special form for conscientious objectors in which he certified that he had been associated with Jehovah’s Witnesses all his life and that he “became a minister in 1957 by water immersion.”

In this document, Martinetto did not seek a IV-D classification (minister of religion or divinity…