COUNTERING MILITARY RECRUITMENT
Articles: War Protests: General
Clay Guilty in Draft Case; Gets Five Years in Prison
MARTIN WALDRON, The New York Times
June 20, 1967
Houston,
June 20--Cassius Clay, the deposed heavyweight champion, was convicted
by a jury tonight of violating the United States Selective Service laws
by refusing to be drafted.
Federal District Judge Joe E. Ingraham sentenced Clay to five years in
prison and fined him $10,000. This was the maximum penalty for the
offense, which is a felony.
The judge's sentence was pronounced immediately at Clay's request.
"I'd appreciate it," the 25-year-old boxer said, "if the court will do
it now, give me my sentence now, instead of waiting and stalling for
time."
His lawyers said he "wants to be able to sleep tonight" without worrying what the sentence would be.
Clay, who had contended that his status as a Black Muslim minister made
him exempt from the draft, stood passively in front of the judge's
bench as the judge pronounced sentence.
Every eye in the crowded courtroom was on him as he stared straight
ahead, saying, "No, sir," firmly when the judge asked him if he wanted
to say anything that might go toward mitigating his sentence.
Before the sentencing, Morton Susman, United States Attorney, indicated
that he would file no objection to the judge's giving Clay a lighter
sentence than the maximum.
"The only record he has is a minor traffic offense," said Mr. Susman.
He said that Clay, as an athlete, had brought honor to the United
States by winning in the Olympics in Rome in 1960, and had brought
credit to himself by becoming heavyweight champion of the world.
"He became a Muslim in 1964 after defeating Sonny Liston for the
title," said Mr. Susman. "In my opinion, his trouble started with
that--this tragedy and the loss of his title can be traced to that."
After Clay had refused in April to take the Army induction oath, the
World Boxing Association and the New York Athletic Commission stripped
him of his title.
Mr. Susman, who was aided in the prosecution by a Negro assistant, Carl
Walker, said that he had studied the Muslim order "and it is as much
political as it is religious."
Clay, who had stood stiffly in his gray silk suit and black alligator shoes without speaking, could keep quiet no longer.
"If I can say so, sir," he said, "my religion is not political in no way."
There were a number of Muslim members in the courtroom for the verdict
and the subsequent sentencing, but there was no outcry and no
disturbance. A number of special agents of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation were watching the audience along with Federal marshals.
The jury, six men and six women, all white, stayed in the jury box during the sentencing.
Clay's attorneys, Hayden C. Covington of New York City and Quinnan A.
Hodges of Houston, took exception to Mr. Susman's remarks about the
Muslims.
Denies Muslim Influence
Mr. Covington, who has won civil rights suits for Jehovah's Witnesses,
a religious sect, in a number of constitutional cases, said: "I take
exception to remarks that this man is under the influence of the
Muslims in any way."
Clay, he said, is one of the finest men he has ever met and acted from
"sincerity and honesty" when he refused last April 28 to step forward
and be inducted into the armed services at Houston.
Both Mr. Covington and Mr. Hodges asked Judge Ingraham to put Clay on
probation. Failing that, said Mr. Covington, the former champion should
not be given a sentence more severe than those given in a similar
cases. "That's 18 months," he said.
Judge Ingraham, after being told that Clay's attorneys would appeal,
said that now was not the time to ask for clemency. If the conviction
should be thrown out on appeal, "the sentence would be nil," he said,
but if it should be upheld, that would be the time to seek a reduction
in sentence or to seek probation.
Clay, who had known both applause and boos in his seven years as a boxer, did not seem downcast at today's turn of events.
His step was as jaunty as ever as he walked from the courtroom after
being released on $5,000 bond. He held hands with two young women who
had been with him during intermissions in the trial and he smiled at
the crowd that gathered around. He allowed the television cameramen to
surround him and shuffle him off down the street.
The jury was out considering the verdict for only about 20 minutes.
Everyone knew before it retired that Clay would be convicted. He and
his lawyers had not attempted to deny that he had refused induction.
Their main contention was that the draft boards in Louisville, Ky., and
in Houston had acted improperly in not granting him a deferment as a
minister.
After Judge Ingraham had ruled that a study of the huge draft board
file of the Clay case had convinced him that the draft boards had not
acted "arbitrarily or capriciously" in refusing the deferment. Clay's
conviction became a foregone conclusion.
Pays No Attention
Clay paid no attention to the legal maneuvering during the day. He sat at the defense table, drawing and chewing gum.
During recesses, while Clay stood out in the corridors in the Federal
Courthouse and signed autographs for children, one of his attorneys
showed reporters some of the drawings that Clay had made. One showed an
airplane flying over a heavily wooded mountain range toward the rising
sun. Another portrayed a ship sailing head-on into a fjord between two
mountain ranges.
Clay himself exhibited other drawings--mystic symbols, clouds and so
forth. One was an elaborate sketch of the words "Muhammad Ali," which
is his Muslim name.
In all, the jury heard only an hour or so of testimony, most of it from Government witnesses.
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