Francis Ford (judge)

Ford was particularly alarmed at the growing rate of marijuana use among Boston teenagers. Ford, along with Boston Police Commissioner Joseph Timilty, created a campaign with the Federal Narcotics Bureau to "nip the evil flower of marijuana in the bud."[3] This was primarily the result of an incident in South Boston during which teenagers fired at police while apparently under the influence of marijuana. The teens had just come from a "tea party" in South Boston, which at the time referred to a party at which marijuana was smoked.

As United States Attorney, Ford successfully prosecuted two mail-robbers in U.S. v. Rettich which was upheld on appeal.[4] In this case, the defendants were found guilty of both conspiracy to assault a mail truck driver and robbing the driver of United States mail. They were also indicted and found guilty for assaulting the truck driver with a dangerous weapon, thus "effecting a robbery of said registered mail." The defendants' main argument was that the trial court erred in allowing certain evidence ($10,000 found buried in Rettich's yard) because it was obtained through illegal search and seizure. The court wrote that "evidence secured even by an unlawful search and seizure by state officers, when not acting in behalf of the federal government, is admissible in a prosecution for a federal offense in the United States Courts, whether seized under an invalid search warrant or without any warrant at all."

Ford presided over the 1968 trial of childcare specialist and anti-Vietnam War activist Benjamin Spock ("Dr. Spock"), William Sloane Coffin (the chaplain of Yale University) Michael Ferber, Mitchell Goodman, and Marcus Raskin.[1] In this case the defendants were indicted with conspiring to "counsel, aid and abet diverse Selective Service registrants to neglect, fail, refuse and evade service in the armed forces of the United States and all other duties required of registrants under the Universal Military Training and Service Act, to fail and refuse to have in their personal possession at all times their registration certificates (and) valid notices of classification (and conspired to) unlawfully, willfully and knowingly hinder and interfere, by any means, with the administration of the Universal Military Training and Service Action."[5] Essentially, they were charged with conspiring to aid and abet draft dodgers.[6] The jury found the defendants guilty of violating the Selective Service Act of 1948.[7]

The jury found the defendants guilty of conspiracy in large part due to special questions submitted by Ford to the jury.[8] He also informed the jury that the legality of the Vietnam War was not a relevant issue.[9] Following the trial, Dr. Spock stated that "Ford was not going to listen to any arguments that the government was wrong about the war." Spock also later stated that a friend of his, when leaving the courtroom, overheard Ford say, "They brought a bunch of slick New York lawyers to try to interfere with justice here, but they're not going to do it."

Among the questions Ford submitted was the following:

Does the Jury find beyond a reasonable doubt that defendants unlawfully, knowingly and willfully conspired to counsel Selective Service registrants to knowingly and willfully refuse and evade service in the armed forces of the United States in violation of Section 12 of the Military Selective Service Act of 1967? (Id. at 180).

The second question substituted the word 'counsel' for 'aid' while the third question substituted the word 'counsel' with 'abet'. The jury returned a verdict of guilty, while answering most of the special questions in the government's favor. When Ford sentenced the defendants to two years in prison he stated, "Rebellion against the law is in the nature of treason."[10]

His verdict was overturned by the First Circuit Court of Appeals. The Court held that Ford had committed prejudicial error by submitting the ten special questions to the jury.[8]

There was widespread criticism of Ford following the Spock trial.

Howard Zinn, in his book Disobedience and Democracy: Nine Fallacies of Law and Order wrote, "In sentencing Dr. Spock, William Coffin, Michael Ferber, and Mitchell Goodman to jail terms on July 10, 1968, Judge Francis Ford in Boston quoted Justice Fortas that 'Lawlessness cannot be tolerated,' and added his own words: 'Where law and order stops, obviously anarchy begins.'"[11] Zinn continued, "That is the same basically conservative impulse which once saw minimum wage laws as leading to socialism, or bus desegregation leading to intermarriage…."[11]