Stephen Ducey

CJ 308 D
Prof. Crowson
November 20th, 2010

Gideon v. Wainwright

The case of Clarence Earl Gideon verses the state of Florida was a major turning

point in Americas’ criminal justice system. This case is one of the most famous cases

ever to be reviewed by the Supreme Court of the United States. Gideon was a man who

had a substantial criminal record. He had many petty theft charges and had even served

time in jails prior to 1961, which was the year he was charged by the state of Florida for

breaking into the Bay Harbor Pool Hall.

“Gideon was a drifter and based on his arrest record, a longtime petty criminal.

By the time he was accused of burglarizing and stealing from a poolroom, he

was in his 50s, had been convicted numerous times in both state and federal

courts, and had served time in jails throughout the country. The trial judge

declined to appoint counsel for him; he represented himself in a jury trial and

was convicted as charged. He did not appeal, but filed a petition for writ of

habeas corpus in the Florida Supreme Court, which was summarily denied.

From his prison cell, he hand-wrote a petition for writ of certiorari, which he

mailed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and the rest is history.” (Rashkind, The

Florida Bar Journal/March 2003)

Gideon went to trial at the state level and was refused council to represent him

even though he had asked for someone to represent him. He later ended up being

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CJ 308 D
Prof. Crowson
November 20th, 2010

convicted of his charged offences. His sentencing hearing would deal him an unfortunate

five years in a state prison. While in prison he petitions the Florida State Supreme Court

and his appeal is denied. He then focused on by-passing the State of Florida in order to

defend his constitutional rights granted to him by the sixth amendment. The right he was

endeavoring to defend was that of due process. Gideon felt that he was not granted due

process of the law because he was denied council at his trial. Gideon, while in prison

writing in pencil, files a writ of certiorari which is the appeal to the Supreme Court of the

United States claiming one is unlawfully detained and they need to review the case from

a lower court. Clarence Earl Gideon got his writ of certiorari approved and then had to

file another writ which claimed that he was too poor and need financial assistance to

appeal to the Supreme Court in order to have his processing fees waived.

The Supreme Court of the United States had been seeking a case of such matter

that Gideon’s had. They were looking to overrule a past judgment in the case of Betts v.

Brady. Betts v. Brady was the case that lead to the decision that the sixth amendment did

not apply to the states and that council did not have to be appointed unless special

circumstances were present, such as mental retardation, the severity of the charge or the

complexity of the case. The Supreme Court granted his writ and was going to review his

case at trial. The Supreme Court appointed Clarence Earl Gideon a lawyer from

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Stephen Ducey
CJ 308 D
Prof. Crowson
November 20th, 2010

Washington. His name was Abe Fortas. After the Gideon case Abe Fortas later became

an associate justice of the Supreme Court but during the case he was directed to focus his

argument on the question: “Should this court’s holding in Betts v. Brady 316 U.S. 455,

be reconsidered?”(Rashkind).

Fortas argued that the sixth amendment needed to be applied to the states and that

judging special circumstances on a day to day bases leads to unnecessary error. He said

that just having appeared into the courtroom should qualify as a special circumstance.

The State of Florida, who was represented by the assistant attorney general Bruce R

Jacobs, argued that Gideon had a fair trial and he was fully capable of defending himself

at trial. Jacobs was like David fighting Goliath for he was only 26 years of age with no

experience at the Supreme Court level going against Fortas who was a well achieved

Washington lawyer.

The case was decided, a unanimous decision of the Supreme Court justices, in

favor of Clarence Earl Gideon. He won his case and the Supreme Court overruled their

decision in the 1942 Betts v. Brady case and granted that every person charged with a

felony be appointed council. This case was the landmark case for what we now know as

“you have the right to an attorney, if you can not afford one, one will be provided for

you”. Many other cases have been decided since then to formulate exactly how the legal

system is today. Such cases include In re Gault , 387 U.S. 1 (1967) which gave the right

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Stephen Ducey
CJ 308 D
Prof. Crowson
November 20th, 2010
to council to juvenile proceedings and Argersinger v. Hamlin, 407 U.S. 25 (1972) which

gave the right to council in misdemeanor cases that could result in imprisonment.

(Rashkind)

Rashkind, Paul M. “Gideon v. Wainwright A 40th Birthday Celebration and Threat of a

Midlife Crisis” The Florida Bar Journal, EBSCO 2003.