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                                                      Gideon v. Wainwright 

                        

Link: https://www.britannica.com/event/Gideon-v-Wainwright 

        :   https://www.oyez.org/cases/1962/155

    Clarence Earl Gideon, who had been charged with a felony for allegedly burglarizing a pool hall in Panama City, Florida, in June 1961. At his first trial he requested a court-appointed attorney but was denied because he was poor. Also, according to Florida state law, an attorney may only be appointed to an indigent defendant in capital cases, so the trial court did not appoint one. He was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. 

    Gideon subsequently petitioned for a writ of habeas corpus from the Florida Supreme Court, arguing that, because he had not had an attorney, he had been denied a fair trial. After the Florida Supreme Court upheld the lower court’s ruling, Gideon filed a petition with the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear the case.

    Finally, 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. ( The Sixth Amendment: The Sixth Amendment guarantees the rights of criminal defendants, including the right to a public trial without unnecessary delay, the right to a lawyer, the right to an impartial jury, and the right to know who your accusers are and the nature of the charges and evidence against you.) Because of The Sixth Amendment, Gideon had a lawyer. Finally, Gideon was acquitted. In Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), the Supreme Court ruled that the Constitution requires the states to provide defense attorneys to criminal defendants charged with serious offenses who cannot afford lawyers themselves.