United States v. Richard Stevan Bloom

This is an appeal from a conviction, after a jury trial, for failure to submit to induction into the armed services in violation of 50 U.S.C. App. § 462(a)

BACKGROUND

On June 19, 1968, the local board mailed to appellant an order to report for induction on July 2, 1968. On the following day, June 20th, he appeared at the local board office and requested SS Form No. 150. He immediately completed the form and filed it, together with nine typed pages setting forth his answers to the questions. Later, he submitted affidavits showing that he, his father and an attorney consulted with each other on June 19th with reference to appellant’s selective service status. As an outgrowth of this meeting, he says, that for the first time he realized he was eligible for conscientious objector status. He testified he completed his typewritten answers on the night of June 19th and turned them in to the local board with the form on the 20th. He says he did not know that the local board had mailed him the order to report for induction at the time he requested the form. The local board did not reopen.

ISSUES

(1) Was the local board without jurisdiction by reason of the fact that none of its…