Benjamin Parker Blades v. United States

Convicted of refusal to submit to induction into the Armed Forces of the United States, 50 U.S.C.App. § 462, Blades appeals on the ground that his local board should have reopened his classification to consider his request for conscientious objector status. We affirm.

Blades was classified I-A on August 23,1966. He appealed, requesting a II-S (student) deferment, and was granted a personal appearance, but was again classified I-A on December 7, 1966. The Appeal Board affirmed. Notice of this classification was sent to Blades on January 13, 1967. He took no further steps, and on August 11, 1967, his local board mailed him an order to report for induction on August 30, 1967. On the night of August 29, 1967, he filled out and mailed to his local board SSS Form No. 150 (Special Form for Conscientious Objector). The envelope was postmarked August 30, 1967, and was received by the board on August 31, 1967, one day after Blades was required to submit to induction. Meanwhile, on August 30, 1967, he did report to the induction center as ordered, but refused to take the symbolic step forward. Instead, he handed to an induction officer a typed, signed, one paragraph statement which reads as…