Memo from Lani Guinier to Jim Nabrit (cover memo without attachment)

Correspondence
November 22, 1982

Memo from Lani Guinier to Jim Nabrit (cover memo without attachment) preview

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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, 

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