Case ID: mj_1/html/0089-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM:", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

UNITED STATES, Appellee, v. Floyd E. BURDEN, Private U. S. Army, Appellant.
    No. 29,571.
    U. S. Court of Military Appeals.
    Aug. 1, 1975.
    
      Captain Ronald Lewis Gallant argued the cause for Appellant, Accused. With him on the brief were Colonel Victor A. DeFiori, Lieutenant Colonel James Kucera, and Major Richard J. Goddard.
    
    
      Captain Larry R. McDowell argued the cause for Appellee, United States. With him on the brief were Lieutenant Colonel Ronald M. Holdaway, Lieutenant Colonel Donald W. Hansen, Captain Richard S. Kleager, and Captain David A. Schlueter.
    
   OPINION OF THE COURT

PER CURIAM:

At the time of appellant’s induction into the armed forces, failure to pass the Armed Forces Qualifications Test coupled with an inability to read and write in the English language was a nonwaivable bar to induction. The uncontested evidence of record indicates that appellant advised an induction official of his reading and writing disability. The official, in turn, directed appellant “to sign the test, and the dude would take care of it.” For substantially the same reasons we enunciated in United States v. Russo, 23 U.S.C.M.A. 511, 50 C.M.R. 650, 1 M.J. 134 (1975), appellant’s induction was void. Consequently, the court-martial which tried him lacked jurisdiction.

The decision of the United States Army Court of Military Review is reversed. The findings of guilty and the sentence are set aside, and the charges are ordered dismissed. 
      
      . Paragraph 4-12, Army Regulation 601-270, Personnel Procurement, Armed Forces Examining and Induction Stations (March 18, 1969).
     
      
      . Fraudulent induction is a criminal offense under Article 134, Uniform Code of Military Justice, 10 U.S.C. § 934, as well as under the Selective Service Act, 50 U.S.C. App. § 462 (1968).