U.S. judge quashes 1942 conviction

Press, 12 February 1986, Page 11

U.S. judge quashes 1942 conviction

NZPA-Reuter Seattle A United States judge overturned yesterday the conviction of a JapaneseAmerican, who, in 1942, refused to obey a Government order for internment.

Gordon Hirabayashi, aged 67, a native of Seattle now living in Edmonton, Alberta, accused the United States Government of misconduct in convicting him of disobeying the order, which sent some 120,000 Japanese-Ameri-cans to 10 internment camps at the start of World War 11.

Mr Hirabayashi was a 23-year-old student at the University of Washington

when he ignored an 8 p.m. curfew and refused to be shifted to a camp. He spent five months in jail, followed by three months on a prison road crew.

Although he reversed the conviction yesterday, Federal Judge Donald Voorhees let stand Mr Hirabayashi’s conviction on a curfew violation charge. The United States Supreme Court had upheld both convictions in 1943, but Mr Hirabayashi won a new trial last year when he presented evidence that the Government had withheld important documents from

the High Court. Mr Hirabayashi said he felt that his 40-year fight against the Government was worth while. He called the Government’s reason for moviing Americans of Japanese ancestry into camps after the attack on Pearl Harbour and the outbreak of war “an error of the most fundamental character.”

Although 40 years had elapsed since his arrest and conviction, Mr Hirabayashi said he felt justice had been done. He had been in Seattle on a temporary teaching assignment when the ruling was handed down.