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Prosecutions of Draft Registration Resisters

in the USA since 1980 (none since 1986)

• Violations of Selective Service laws and regulations: 20,000,000+ since 1980 (extrapolated from GAO and Selective Service System estimates of compliance rates; there has been no GAO or other independent audit of compliance with registration since 1982)

  • Nonregistration

    • Alternative To Current Draft Registration Needed Unless Level Of Compliance Improves (General Accounting Office report FPCD-82-20, April 19, 1982)
    • Selective Service System Peacetime Draft Registration Program (testimony of the General Accounting Office to Congress, July 28, 1982)
    • Registration Compliance Rates by State for Men Born In 1985, As Of December 31, 2004 (Men born in 1985 should have registered within 30 days of when they turned 18 in 2003, so these include as "in compliance" people who have registered up to 2 years late. The SSS counts as in "compliance" anyone who registers, regardless of when they register or whether the address and other information thay have on file with the SSS is accurate, complete, or current. SSS also includes as "in compliance" people registered involuntarily when they apply for drivers' licenses in certain states.)

  • Incomplete registration (no Social Security number, etc.)

  • Late registration

  • Change of address without notice to the SSS

    • Failure Of Registrants To Report Address Changes Would Diminish Fairness Of Induction Processing (General Accounting Office report FPCD-82-45, September 24, 1982)
    • Reserve Forces and Manpower Mobilization Issues (testimony of the General Accounting Office to Congress, March 15, 1983)

  • Counseling, aid, or abetment of resistance

  • Conspiracy to counsel, aid, abet, or resist




• Indictments: 20 (19 for self-reported or self-publicized nonregistration; most recent indictment was that of of Terry Kuelper on January 23, 1986)

  • Indictments withdrawn by prosecutors: 5

    • Chuck Epp (prosecutor moved to dismiss the charge in mid-trial)
    • Steve Schlossberg (allowed to indicate intent to seek conscientious objector status on a special registration form)
    • Terry Kuelper (registered, charge withdrawn before trial)
    • Michael McMillan (registered, pre-trial diversion, 1 year unsupervised probation, no criminal record)
    • Phetsamay Maokhanphio [sp?] (registered, pre-trial diversion, 1 year unsupervised probation, no criminal record)
  
  

  • Convictions: 15

    • Guilty pleas: 5
      • Kendal Warkentine
      • Rusty Martin
      • David Wayte
      • Jon Harshberger
      • Gillam Kerley
    • Bench trials and convictions: 2
      • Enten Eller
      • Sam Matthews
    • Jury trials and convictions: 8
      • Ben Sasway
      • Gary Eklund
      • Edward Hasbrouck
      • Russ Ford
      • Mark Schmucker
      • Andy Mager
      • Paul Jacob
      • Dan Rutt



• Convictions and Sentences: 15

  • Unsupervised probation: 1

    • Kendal Warkentine (2 years)
  
  

  • Supervised probation with special conditions: 6

    • Enten Eller (2 years "voluntary public service")
    • Mark Schmucker (2 years "voluntary public service", $3,000 fine)
    • Rusty Martin (3 years, register, attend 2 naturalization ceremonies, $10,000 fine)
    • David Wayte (6 months "house arrest")
    • Jon Harshbarger (2 years "voluntary public service", $1,500 fine)
    • Gillam Kerley ("voluntary public service", fine)
  
  

  • Imprisonment: 8

    • Russ Ford (refused to accept conditions of release on bond, jailed 35 days pending trial, sentenced to the 35 days time he had already served)
    • Sam Matthews (sentenced originally to 1 year + 1 day, sentence commuted to time served and released unconditionally after 3 months)
    • Edward Hasbrouck (sentence originally suspended, probation later revoked, resentenced to 6 months, released unconditionally after 4 1/2 months)
    • Andy Mager (sentenced to 6 months, released unconditionally after 4 1/2 months)
    • Ben Sasway (sentenced to 2 1/2 years, released on parole after 6 months)
    • Gary Eklund (sentenced originally to 2 years, sentence commuted to 7 monnths, released unconditionally after 5 1/2 months)
    • Paul Jacob (sentenced to 6 months, released on probation after 5 months)
    • Dan Rutt (3 months in "Community Correctional Facility" [halfway house])

• U.S. Supreme Court decisions on draft registration since 1980

  • Rostker v. Goldberg, 453 U.S. 57 (1981)

    (upholding the Constitutionality of requiring men but not women to register for the draft)

  • Selective Service v. Minnesota Public Internet Research Group (MPIRG), 468 U.S. 841 (1984)

    (upholding the Constitutionality of the first of the Federal "Solomon Amendment" laws, which requires apllicants for Federal student aid to certify that they have complied with draft registration, either by having registered or by not being required to register)

  • Wayte v. United States, 470 U.S. 598 (1985)

    (Upholding the policies and procedures which the Supreme Court thought the government had used to select the "most vocal" nonregistrants for prosecution, after the government refused to comply with discovery orders by the trial court to produce documents and witnesses related to the selection of nonregistrants for prosecution. Don't rely on this decision as an accurate statement of the actual prosecution practices. See the dissent for why the factual record was incomplete, and the case was decided prematurely and on the wrong issues.)

[Compiled by Edward Hasbrouck for the National Resistance Committee. I've only linked to e-mail addresses that were already on the Web, but I'm in touch with some others of the indicted nonregistrants listed above.]

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