No Regrets

THE DRAFT

From the start, nine Roman Catholic pacifists on trial in a Baltimore federal court last week knew that they did not have a prayer. Defense Lawyer William Kunstler conceded immediately that the nine, who included three former missionaries, a nurse, an artist and two priests, had broken the law by taking 378 files from Draft Board 33 in suburban Catonsville last May and burning them with homemade napalm.

The Catonsville Nine did, however, use some highly unusual arguments. They contended that "some property has no right to exist," namely the draft files, because they were instruments of an illegal war. They argued that they had broken one law in order to halt what they believed was a greater act of outlawry. But Chief Judge Roszel C. Thomsen underlined the distinction between the pacifists' motives and their admitted intent to commit the crime of destroying government property and interfering with the administration of the Selective Service system. It was of no legal significance, Thomsen told the jury "that in the eyes of history they may be right."

Within two hours, the jurors returned guilty verdicts for all nine, subjecting each to a maximum of 18 years in prison and a $22,000 fine.

Two of the nine are already appealing six-year federal-prison terms for pouring duck blood on Baltimore draft files. Appeals are also planned against last week's verdict. "It was a defeat from the legal point of view," said Kunstler. "But it was a triumph from the emotional, moral and ethical point of view. I have nothing to regret."

Kunstler was especially cheered when Prosecutor Arthur G. Murphy said that the Government did not necessarily consider "unreasonable" the defendants' view that the war is illegal. Never before, Kunstler asserted, had the Government made such an admission in open court. But Murphy at no time actually allowed that the war was illegal--simply that it was possible for reasonable men to hold that view.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.