Biography
Leslie A. Cole was a Navy conscientious objector imprisoned for refusing military duties and uniform requirements. The Fourth Circuit’s 1984 opinion documents separate periods of confinement in 1982 and 1983. A submission to the 2001 Cox Commission describes the conscience conflict behind her refusal. The appellate court reversed the civilian court’s conscientious-objector discharge order on exhaustion grounds; service discharge and physical release from jail were separate events.
Leslie A. Cole was a Navy conscientious objector imprisoned for refusing military duties and uniform requirements. The Fourth Circuit’s 1984 opinion documents separate periods of confinement in 1982 and 1983. A submission to the 2001 Cox Commission describes the conscience conflict behind her refusal. The appellate court reversed the civilian court’s conscientious-objector discharge order on exhaustion grounds; service discharge and physical release from jail were separate events. Thirty days at hard labor imposed. The judicial appendix records Newport News City Jail confinement from August 17 to September 13, 1982. Earlier attempted correctional custody is separate from this documented jail interval.
Sixty days at hard labor, forfeitures and bad-conduct discharge imposed February 25, 1983. The judicial appendix records January 28 pretrial confinement and later detention at Fort Meade. The district court ordered physical release, but the exact discharge day is not established here; later service-discharge litigation is distinct.
Cole v. Commanding Officer, Fourth Circuit, 1984, opinion and chronological appendix.
