Memo from Lani Guinier to Jim Nabrit (cover memo without attachment)
Correspondence
November 22, 1982

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Press Releases, Volume 4. LDF Defends Rights Worker Charged with Draft Evasion, 1967. 3c8af3e3-b792-ee11-be37-00224827e97b. LDF Archives, Thurgood Marshall Institute. https://ldfrecollection.org/archives/archives-search/archives-item/fbc72543-2b1d-43a4-aae2-afbdb0c3388b/ldf-defends-rights-worker-charged-with-draft-evasion. Accessed July 01, 2025.
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NAACP LEGAL DEFENSE AND EDUCATIONAL FUND, INC. egal efense fund — 10 Columbus Circle, New York, N.Y. 10019 * JUdson 6-8397 FOR RELEASE WEDNESDAY June 7, 1967 LDF DEFENDS *RIGHTS WORKER CHARGED WITH DRAFT EVASION NEW ORLEANS---The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit here was asked by attorneys of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc, (LDF) to reverse the draft evasion conviction this week of a civil rights worker. Barry J. Wallace, a voter-education worker affiliated with SCLC, is currently under the maximum sentence of 10 years in jail and a fine of $20,000 imposed by a district court in Savannah, Georgia. LDF attorneys charge that the sentence is excessive since the evidence in the case shows more of a misunderstanding than any criminal intent on the part of the defendant to evade the draft, According to the LDF attorneys, Mr. Wallace answered his call for induction in May 1966 but was sent back because of a wound on his arm, whereupon he resumed his civil rights activities. His next induction notice arrived a day after he was to report to the Selective Service Board, Mr. Wallace, because of his constant civil rights travels, made attempts to have his papers transferred to another induction center nearer to his current residence. However, by this time he was de- clared delinquent, arrested, and tried, In appealing to the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals, the LDF attorneys argue that the presiding judge erred in refusing to postpone the trial by one week so that Mr. Wallace could choose his own lawyer. He was defended by a court-appointed lawyer. The judge was further cited by LDF attorneys for failing to instruct the jury that a guilty verdict should be reached only if it was proven that Mr, Wallace bad willfully attempted to evade the draft, =30= S25 ees