Frank Emi

Released
Date of birth:23. 09. 1916
Date of death:01. 12. 2010
Age:94† Deceased
Gender:Male
Race:Asian
Era:1940s
State:Wyoming
Time Imprisoned:
2 Years 2 Months 0 Days
Support
Civil Rights
Frank Emi

Biography

Frank Seishi Emi was a Los Angeles grocer interned at the Heart Mountain War Relocation Center in Wyoming. In January 1944 the U.S. government began drafting Japanese-American men out of the camps. Emi co-founded the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee, which counseled draft resistance unless internees' constitutional rights were restored first. Eighty-five Heart Mountain internees refused induction; sixty-three were convicted in the largest mass draft-resistance trial in U.S. history (June 1944). Emi and six other Fair Play Committee leaders were separately convicted on October 26, 1944 of conspiring to counsel draft resistance and sentenced to 4 years federal prison; held at USP Leavenworth. The Tenth Circuit reversed the leaders' convictions on December 26, 1946. President Truman pardoned the 63 resisters on December 24, 1947.

Case

United States Penitentiary, Leavenworth
Charges: Conspiracy to counsel draft resistance — under 18 U.S.C. § 11 (1940) and the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940.
Arrested: Jul 21, 1944
Sentenced: Oct 26, 1944
Incarcerated: Oct 26, 1944
Released: Dec 26, 1946
Sentence: 4 years federal prison at USP Leavenworth. Conviction reversed by the Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals on December 26, 1946. The 63 Heart Mountain draft resisters themselves were pardoned by President Truman on December 24, 1947. Verdict as recorded: Yes — reversed 1946 (10th Cir.) Charges as recorded: Conspiracy to counsel draft resistance — under 18 U.S.C. § 11 (1940) and the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940. Co-leader of the Heart Mountain Fair Play Committee.
Convicted: Yes
Institution State: Kansas

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