Biography
Benjamin H. Sasway was the first American indicted since the Vietnam War for refusing to register with the Selective Service System, and the first jailed for it. A 21-year-old San Diego State University student, Sasway had refused to register in 1980 and said openly and often that draft registration was "immoral and incompatible with a free society." Indicted in San Diego in 1982, he was barred at trial from telling the jury about his political motives, and in August 1982 a federal jury — after deliberating about 50 minutes — convicted him of refusing to register. On October 4, 1982 a judge sentenced him to 30 months in a minimum-security federal prison, making him the first person imprisoned for draft-registration resistance since the Vietnam era.
Political-science and philosophy student at Humboldt State who became the first man indicted for failure to register since the Vietnam War. Selected for the test prosecution at the recommendation of Reagan adviser Edwin Meese, who believed conservative San Diego would deliver a quick conviction. Indicted June 30, 1982; convicted by a jury after only 40 minutes' deliberation on Aug. 26, 1982; sentenced Oct. 4, 1982 to 30 months in federal prison — the harshest sentence of any nonregistrant. Barred from telling the jury his motives. Served until release on Sept. 20, 1985.
