At trial, Gideon appeared in court without an attorney. In open court, he asked the judge to appoint counsel for him because he could not afford an attorney. The trial judge denied Gideon's request because Florida law only permitted appointment of counsel for poor defendants charged with capital offenses.
The case began with the 1961 arrest of Clarence Earl Gideon. Gideon was charged with breaking and entering into a Panama City, Florida, pool hall and stealing money from the hall's vending machines. At trial, Gideon, who could not afford a lawyer himself, requested that an attorney be appointed to represent him.
The Gideon case incorporated the Sixth Amendment into the states, meaning that all state courts must provide lawyers for defendants who cannot afford to hire their own.
The Sixth Amendment's guarantee of a right to assistance of counsel applies to criminal defendants in state court by way of the Fourteenth Amendment.
Did the Court rule that a defendant could never act as his or her own lawyer? No. A defendant can act as his or her own lawyer if he or she is mentally competent, or the Court will appoint a lawyer for the defendant. At which point, according to the court's decision, must a lawyer be provided to a suspect of a crime?
Decision: In 1963, the Supreme Court ruled unanimously in favor of Gideon, guaranteeing the right to legal counsel for criminal defendants in federal and state courts.
Held: The right of an indigent defendant in a criminal trial to have the assistance of counsel is a fundamental right essential to a fair trial, and petitioner's trial and conviction without the assistance of counsel violated the Fourteenth Amendment.
Alabama3 in 1932, the Court in Gideon held that the Sixth Amendment's right to legal representation was “fundamental and essential to fair trials,” thus entitling indigent felony defendants to court-appointed counsel in all American criminal cases.
Gideon's argument was relatively straightforward: The right to an attorney is a fundamental right under the Sixth Amendment that also applies to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment. By refusing to appoint him a lawyer Florida was violating the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
No, Gideon's punishment was not appropriate because he was sentenced 5 years in prison, even though it was only petty larceny.
What is another important fact presented at the second trial that was not presented at the first trial? Lester Wade, the key prosecution witness, admitted that he had been previously convicted of a felony and that he had lied at Gideon's first trial.
Gideon v. WainwrightMarch 18 marks the 56th anniversary of the landmark Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) Supreme Court decision that granted poor criminal defendants the right to have a lawyer represent them in court in state criminal cases even if they could not afford one.