United States v. Richard Alan Glover

MEMORANDUM

Defendant was convicted in a court trial of the knowing failure to keep his local draft board advised at all times of the address where mail would reach him, in violation of 50 U.S.C. App. § 462 and 32 C.F.R. § 1641.3 (revised as of July 1, 1973, and renumbered 32 C.F.R. § 1641.-1(a)(1)).

Defendant registered with his local draft board on February 13, 1970. In April, he returned his classification questionnaire, giving 4274 Toch Street, San Diego, as his home address and his grandmother’s name and address in Na-hunta, Georgia, as the name and address of the person who would always know his address.

On May 30, 1970, defendant moved from 4274 Toch Street, San Diego, to 6451 Salizar Court in the same city. His mother testified she left a forwarding address for him at the post office.

On June 21, 1972, two years later, the local board mailed to defendant at the Toch Street address an order for him to report for a physical examination on July 24, 1972. The letter was returned unopened, marked “Moved, not forward-able.”

On August 3, 1972, letters were then mailed to defendant’s stepfather at the Toch Street address and to his grandmother at her Georgia address. The letter to his stepfather was returned unopened and the letter to his grandmother was not returned or answered.

*391Defendant’s mother testified that on August 14 she called the local board and told a person at the board she had received the letter mailed to her mother and gave the person at the board her address as the place where defendant could be reached. The address was given early in the conversation and she was not sure it had been recorded by the person at the board. She further testified she told her son (the defendant) to expect the board to contact him at her address.

The defendant did not report for his physical examination on July 24, 1972. He was not located until about August 1973, a year later.

This case is controlled by the hornbook rule that upon appeal of a conviction in a criminal case the evidence must be considered in a light most favorable to the government and the findings of fact of a trial judge (or jury) may not be set aside unless clearly erroneous.

The conviction was on Count III, alleging that “From June 26, 1972, to August 11, 1972 . . . Glover . did knowingly fail and neglect to perform a duty required of him in that he then and there failed to keep his local board advised of his current mailing address.” The case presented a simple issue of fact.

The case was tried without a jury. Among other findings at the time of conviction, the trial judge found:

“• ■ . the defendant merely just proceeded in a casual disregard of any obligation that he might have and just didn’t bother to notify anybody about anything.
“The defendant knew people were looking for him and he never ever surfaced. He never contacted, the Selective Service, even though he had that information from his mother; and I think, under these circumstances, given the passage of time ... I don’t have any trouble at all saying beyond a reasonable doubt, that he is guilty as to count 3.”

In addition, the trial judge did not credit most of the testimony of the defendant’s mother concerning her call to the local board on August 11 or 14, and her lack of knowledge as to why the board was looking for her son. The board’s records contradicted much of her testimony. The trial judge observed her on the stand, had the board’s records before him, and was entitled to disbelieve her.

Although the letter requesting the defendant to report for a physical was mailed June 21, 1972, the defendant’s mother did not call the board until August 11 or 14, 1972, two to three weeks after the date set for the defendant to report (July 24, 1972), and only after a second batch of letters had been sent out.

Even after the mother called, no line of communication with the defendant had been established, for the defendant in no way attempted to ascertain why the board was looking for him. . Either he knew that he was being sought for a physical and was avoiding communication with the board, or the “line of communication” from his grandmother’s address, to his mother, to him, was inadequate.

From the time the defendant registered on February 13, 1970, the defendant never advised the local board of any change of address, or that he could no longer receive mail at the address of 4274 Toch Street, San Diego, California. Nor did he advise the United States Postal Service of a forwarding address where mail might reach him.1

The judgment is affirmed.

. The dissent places substantial reliance upon our decision in United States v. Chudy, 474 F.2d 1069 (9 Cir. 1973). However, the court in that case relied upon 32 C.F.R. § 1642.41(b) which, as noted in Chudy, was revoked effective December 10, 1971, 36 F.R. 23383 (1971). The events in the present case all occurred subsequent to the revocation of § 1642.41(b). Chudy is therefore not in point.