FREE ESSAY ON GIDEON V. WAINWRIGHT

GIDEON V. WAINWRIGHT

Clarence Earl Gideon was charged in a Florida state court with having broken and entered a
poolroom with intent to commit a misdemeanor. Appearing in court without funds and
without a lawyer, Gideon asked the Florida state court to appoint counsel for him,
whereupon the following troubles took place. The only way Gideon would be appointed a
lawyer if it was a capitol offense. After his conviction, Gideon filed in the Supreme
Court of Florida the present habeas corpus petition, attacking his conviction on the
grounds that his federal constitutional rights were violated by the trial court's refusal
to appoint counsel. The court, without opinion, denied relief.
After going back to trial the Supreme Court found in favor of Gideon. In doing so it
declared that all defendants in felony cases have the right to an attorney. Justice Hugo
Black, stated that the court was returning too...old precedents, souder we believe than
the new. In a opinion by Black, expressing the views of seven members of the Court, it
was held that the Sixth Amendment's provision that in all criminal prosecutions the
accused shall enjoy the right to have the assistance of counsel for his defense was made
obligatory upon the states by the Fourteenth Amendment. The Supreme Court of the United
States reversed, overruling Betts v. Brady, wherein it had been held that due process of
law does not require that in every case, regardless of circumstances, an indigent accused
must be furnished counsel by the state. Gideon recieved a new trial with a lawyer and the
jury acquitted him.
Can people afford lawyers, most poverty stricken people can't? Gideon was a poor man who
could't pay a lawyer to help him in his case, so he was considered a layman at his trial.
Most people don't know of Clarence Earl Gideon or realize how much his case effects us in
our everyday life. Gideon's case with the Supreme Court of the United States shows in the
meranda rights, and in our court rooms everyday. Remember this, if you can't afford a
lawyer, and the courts appoint you one, it's because Clarence Earl Gideon made that
happen. 
Bibliography
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963)