Court Hears Bir Control Case

Massachusetts' highest court will hear William R. Baird challenge the constitutionality of the state's birth control laws today. Baird faces a maximum jail sentence of ten years if the laws are upheld.

Students plan to march from Boston University to the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts in support of Baird at 8:30 a.m. today. The trial is scheduled to begin at 9:30 a.m.

Baird was arrested after distributing contraceptive foam to an unmarried woman at a public meeting at B.U. in April, 1967. He was found guilty by the Suffolk Superior Court of exhibiting a birth control device and of distributing a device to an unmarried woman.

Joseph J. Belliro, Baird's attorney will submit a brief today challenging the laws on four grounds:

* They are an invasion of the right of privacy, interfering with people's attempts to protect their health and welfare.

* They deny free speech, since exhibiting the pill is an extension of talking about it.

* They impose cruel and in-human punishments, five-year maximum sentences.

* They are not within the proper scope of legislation since they are not beneficial to the health, welfare, or morality of citizens.

Belliro expects the court to throw out the law against exhibiting birth control devices but uphold the law against distributing them, he said. He is handling Baird's case at his own expense, but the costs of printing the brief were supplied by Playboy magazine.

The trial today will be short. The court will hear half-hour summaries of the briefs submitted by the State and the defense. It will hand down its decision between 30 and 60 days from today.

Baird successfully challenged similar laws in New York State before entering Massachusetts. He heads the Parent Aid Society in New York which gives advice on birth control and on abortions.

In 1967, Baird was arrested before a crowd of 2500 people in Hayden Hall at B.U., after repeatedly challenging policemen. The Roxbury District Court declined jurisdiction over the case and passed it on to the superior court.

There, Judge Donald Macaulay found Baird guilty. Bellino chose to present no defense and requested that the laws' constitutionality be ruled upon by the state supreme court.

The superior court will sentence Baird only after the supreme court hands down its decision. The brief Belliro submits today will be the first statement of Baird's case by the defense.

Baird also spoke at Harvard and challenged policemen to arrest him for distributing information about birth control. He was not arrested and has not been prosecuted on that charge