United States v. Townsend

OPINION

LUONGO, District Judge.

After trial by jury, William Alan Townsend was convicted of wilful failure to comply with a lawful order to submit to, induction into the Armed Forces of the United States, in violation of 50 U.S.C.App. § 462. He has filed a motion for new trial, charging that the court erred (1) in refusing, on the court’s own motion, to receive Townsend’s evidence of conscientious objector beliefs, and (2) in refusing to instruct the jury that it should return a verdict of not guilty if it found that Townsend was denied a forum in which to claim conscientious objector status.

The…