Uncle Sam Convicts No. 1

Trials begin for men refusing to register for the draft

Early in the day in Roanoke, Va., 150 people sang hymns and prayed under the American flag outside the federal courthouse. Then most filed inside to support their new-found hero, Enten Eller, 20, the first man to be tried for violating the 1980 draft-registration regulations. Eller, a member of the pacifist Church of the Brethren, offered no formal defense during the 3 1/2 hour trial last week. "God called me not to register," he explained to District Court Judge James Turk.

Eller's stand won Turk's respect but not the case. After calling the defendant "an honorable person," Turk sentenced him to three years on probation and 250 hours of community service. The judge ruled that if he did not register within 90 days, he could face stiffer punishment, up to the law's maximum of a $10,000 fine and five years in prison. Back outside, Eller stood firm. Registering now, he told reporters, "would make a farce out of what I did before."

So began a series of trials that federal officials hope will strike the fear of Uncle Sam into young men who have failed to register. The drama in Roanoke can be traced to the aftermath of the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, when President Jimmy Carter persuaded Congress to fund a registration system so that any subsequent draft could produce an army quickly. Candidate Ronald Reagan said he opposed the system, but once in office retained it on the grounds of "national safety." Under the law, males must report to a post office within 30 days before or after their 18th birthday and provide name, address, telephone number, birth date and Social Security number. Registrants still have the right, if there is an actual draft, to claim then that they are conscientious objectors. So far 8.4 million men, 92% of those covered, have registered.

That leaves 674,000 who have not.

The Justice Department is the first to admit that it is not likely to try all of them. "Our objective," Selective Service System Director Thomas Turnage told a House subcommittee last March, "is not to prosecute or to incarcerate, but to get them to register." Barry Lynn, the antiregistration president of Draft Action, maintains that the Government's goal "is really to silence religious and political dissenters against conscription, a tactic used in the Soviet Union routinely." Whatever the aim, the first targets were 160 men who, like Eller, wrote the Government to announce their refusal to register or who were turned in by disapproving neighbors. The Justice Department decided to move against the 70 on the list who were "most adamant" about not complying. By last week, five had been indicted. Said David Wayte, 21, who goes to trial in Los Angeles next month: "I was surprised it went that far."

While the Justice Department was presenting its case against Eller and preparing for the probable next trial, in San Diego, of Benjamin Sasway, 21, mailmen were delivering warning letters to another 33,000 non-registrants. For now, the warnings are going only to those who will be 20 next year and would therefore be the first men called under stand-by draft laws. The letters, signed by Director Turnage, were mailed from the IRS, which checked its records against those of Selective Service and informed those not registered that the IRS might be required to report their names and addresses. The Justice Department plans to hand names on to local U.S. Attorneys, and FBI agents would then try to see each man individually. But even after an indictment, no prosecution is likely if the defendant finally agrees to register, a policy that may undercut the enforcement campaign.

For those who do face trial, there are a number of possible legal defenses. Eller offered only his conscience as a response to the charges, but lawyers for Sasway, for example, are arguing that he is a victim of "selective prosecution," a point the trial judge rejected at a hearing last week. Wayte says he will try any tactic to beat the registration law. Unlike Eller, he explains, "I'm objecting on political grounds. We do want to set a precedent." Suppose he does not--what then? "The idea of jail terrifies me, but if I have to go, I guess I'll accept it."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.