Law Student Requests Trial in Federal Court

Fred L. Wallace, a third-year Harvard Law student who was arrested in Farmville, Va., last July on charges of assault, has asked to be tried in a federal court.

In a petition filed with the U.S. District Court in Richmond, Wallace, a Negro, said that no member of his race could receive a fair trial in a Farmville court. The Virginia town is the seat of Prince Edward County, which closed its public schools in 1959 when a court ordered them to integrate.

Wallace requested to be tried by the Richmond court, basing his request on the equal protection provision of the 14th Amendment.

Wallace was arrested on July 28 after an encounter with a Farmville policeman in a courthouse corridor. Four misdemeanor charges were filed against the law student, and he was also charged with felonious assault and resisting arrest.

The petition asserted that "intense racial prejudice" was prevalent in Prince Edward County and that Wallace was jailed only because he "sought to continue his mission"--helping a local lawyer prepare defenses for jailed civil rights demonstrators.

Erwin N. Griswold, Dean of the Law School, has written a letter praising Wallace to the Prince Edward County judge who is scheduled to hear the case.

Griswold also requested the Lawyer's Committee on Civil Rights to assist Wallace with his defense. The committee has retained George E. Allen, a former President of the Richmond Bar Association, to defend the law student.