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Clarence Earl Gideon was 50 when he was convicted of burglary in 1961.
If you've heard of Clarence Earl Gideon at all, it's probably because of a movie you had to watch in school. He deserves better, though, because 50 years ago Monday he fundamentally changed the American legal system and your rights if you are accused of a state crime.
In Gideon v. Wainwright, a unanimous Supreme Court declared on March 18, 1963, that the states were required to provide legal counsel for defendants in felony cases who could not afford an attorney. In doing so, it accepted the reasoning of a poorly educated Florida gambler and ex-con who wrote out his habeas corpus petition to the court by hand.
Federal courts had been required to provide counsel for indigent defendants in felony cases since 1938. But over the next 25 years, the Supreme Court let several opportunities pass by to impose the same rule on state courts, which had discretion to develop their own ways to ensure a fair trial in cases that didn't involve the death penalty.
"If an obscure Florida convict named Clarence Earl Gideon had not sat down in prison with a pencil and paper to write a letter to the Supreme Court, and if the Supreme Court had not taken the trouble to look at the merits in that one crude petition among all the bundles of mail it must receive every day, the vast machinery of American law would have gone on functioning undisturbed," Robert Kennedy, then the U.S. attorney general, said in an address in Boston later that year (.pdf).
"But Gideon did write that letter," he said. "The court did look into his case. He was retried with the help of competent defense counsel, found not guilty and released from prison after two years of punishment for a crime he did not commit. And the whole course of legal history has been changed. I know of few better examples than that of a democratic principle in action."
Today, indigent defendants are legally guaranteed representation across the U.S. But in the 50 years since the decision, the quality of their representation has been called into doubt. In a new book timed to mark the anniversary, "Chasing Gideon," author Karen Houppert argues that "we have not delivered on the promise of Gideon."
"These public defenders I talked to were looking at 200 felony cases or 225 misdemeanor cases for a single attorney," Houppert, a former staff writer for The Village Voice and media fellow at the Kaiser Family Foundation, said.
"As a result, they're forced to persuade people to plead guilty without investigating what actually happened, without talking to a single witness in the case," she said. "There are thousands of people languishing in jail without a lawyer — and thanks to budget constraints, people aren't really getting their day in court with a lawyer standing there defending them."
A court looking for an opening
Clarence Earl Gideon, 50, was arrested June 3, 1961, after about $5 in change and some beer and soda were stolen from a pool room in Panama City, Fla. Representing himself because the trial judge rejected his request for a court-appointed lawyer, Gideon was convicted Aug. 4, 1961, of breaking and entering with intent to commit petty larceny. He was sentenced to five years in prison.
Read Clarence Earl Gideon's handwritten habeas corpus petition to the Supreme Court.
While in prison, Gideon read up on the law, and he became convinced that the federal requirement to provide counsel had to apply to the states through the 14th Amendment, which courts have long held extended the Bill of Rights to the states.
Hitting a roadblock when he sought help first from the FBI and then from the Florida Supreme Court, Gideon — probably with the assistance of his cellmate, Joseph Peel, a lawyer who had been convicted of killing a judge's wife — mailed a handwritten five-page petition in January 1962 to the U.S. Supreme Court, which agreed to hear his appeal.
(The case has gone down in memory as Gideon v. Wainwright, thanks to the book "Gideon's Trumpet" by Anthony Lewis and the 1980 TV movie of the same name starring Henry Fonda. But right up until the court reached its decision, it was actually called Gideon v. Cochran — Louie L. Wainwright became famous as the respondent only because he replaced H.G. Cochran as director of the Florida Division of Corrections after the court heard arguments on Jan. 15, 1963.)
Bruce Jacob, the assistant state attorney general who argued Florida's side, believed the court was looking for a chance to overturn a 1942 case called Betts v. Brady, in which it declined to impose an absolute rule requiring legal representation for every indigent criminal defendant in noncapital cases, he wrote in a 2003 paper for the Stetson University Law review on the 40th anniversary of Gideon.
Read the full paper by Bruce Jacob (.pdf)
His goal, he wrote, was to limit the scope of whatever new standard the court came up with.
"We hoped ... that the new rule would not be made retroactive, because we did not want such a decision to result in the release of large numbers of prisoners from the state penitentiary who had been convicted without counsel," he wrote.
If there was any doubt about the court's objectives, it was likely erased when the justices appointed Abe Fortas, one of the most prominent lawyers in America, to represent Gideon. Fortas was Vice President Lyndon Johnson's personal lawyer and was appointed to the Supreme Court just two years later.
In a 1969 letter to the Harvard Law Record, Jacob wrote that it was "obvious, during the argument, how deeply the court was committed to the overthrow of Betts v. Brady and its progeny":
Never in the eighteen cases which I had previously argued in the Florida Supreme Court and other appellate courts had I encountered anything like the zeal and emotion that emerged in the questioning. Anger seemed to characterize my most relentless questioner. ... Florida's position was obviously hopeless; my ten months of work devoted to the case were of little avail.
The decision came down two months later, written by Justice Hugo Black, who had been on the losing side of the 1942 Betts decision.
"From the very beginning, our state and national constitutions and laws have laid great emphasis on procedural and substantive safeguards designed to assure fair trials before impartial tribunals in which every defendant stands equal before the law," Black wrote. "This noble ideal cannot be realized if the poor man charged with crime has to face his accusers without a lawyer to assist him."
Five months later, Gideon was retried, this time with a court-appointed lawyer. The new jury acquitted him after only an hour of deliberation.
'He had the guts to say: "That's not fair"'
Clarence Earl Gideon died of cancer in 1972, apparently without ever again running into serious trouble with the law.
As a result of Gideon v. Wainwright, more than 4,000 Florida inmates got retrials or were simply released, Florida corrections records show. (There's no reliable record of how many retrials ended in acquittals.)
Jacob wrote in his 2003 law review article that even though he was on the losing side, it was clearly the right decision. Jacob went on to a distinguished legal career — which included stints as a public defender and as an advocate for legal reform. He taught at several law schools, including Harvard's, and served as dean of the Stetson University College of Law in DeLand, Fla.
Forty-seven of the 50 states now have statewide public defender offices, according to the National Center for State Courts (individual counties serve that function in Alabama, Maine and Utah).
Even if they're not always effective, those offices are a monumental legacy to Gideon, Houppert said.
"It's incredibly moving to read Gideon's letters — he was making such a good and sincere argument. And it's touching to me that he was somewhat illiterate — it's full of spelling mistakes and handwritten in pencil," she said.
"As Americans, it's moving to us to see someone take a stand against the big guys, that he had the guts to say: 'That's not fair. I'm an American, and this isn't right.'
"It's incredible, because he was nobody."
Leave a Comment:
Even now, court-appointed "public defenders" frequently just make a token appearance at the trial, tell their "client" not to take the stand, and do little to help anybody.
a group of journalism students at Northwestern university took on a case of a man convicted of murder in chicago. after researching the case they found that the witnesses could not possibly have seen the murder take place as they could not have seen anything from where they claimed to be at the time of the murder. witnesses said they were coerced by police to lie. the man received a new trial and was found not guilty. i think i'd rather have a group of students than a court appointed attorney. the students did a lot of investigating which, as this article states, few court appointed lawyers can or will do.
I agree granny22 but the students have 1 thing that public defenders do not - time. Public defenders are bottom of the rung and are paid as such but the biggest problem is they are assigned X # of cases regardless of the time they have to "work" the case. If they were to work a case as they should they wouldnt have time to work them all properly before the trial. It's better than nothing but a far cry from a good defense.
In many cases, a public defender isn't there to help the defendant, but to protect the court from overturned verdicts resulting from charges of no access to counsel. Public defenders are often saddled with a heavy case load, few if any staff to run down evidence or leads that may aid his client. Since his client has little in the way of funds, the defense is forced to try to discredit witnesses instead of digging up leads, since much of that involves cash outlay. The public defender system, in theory, is a good idea, often it falls short of it's potential
Jonathan F is correct re. the time and access needed by inexperienced (usually beginning lawyers) -unfamiliar with the thin blue lines and court room politics - where the Johnny Cochran's and F. Lee Bailey's occupy the top tiers of defense attorneys.
John Bryant fails to mentioned that these court-appointed attorneys become part of the system where their "successes" in freeing the accused do not always reward them being assigned more cases, which becomes a kind of negative incentive to win cases for their indigent clientele.
Worst thing about these public defenders is that they lie and tell people they are doing the best thing for themselves. They make you believe that you have representation in the court that is presenting your side and standing up for your rights. THEY DO NOT, they generally are doing what is easiest and quickest for themselves and the courts.
At least they could admit that they don't have the money or resources to actually help you. Honesty in the justice system- Way to much to ask for??
some obviously don't have any idea of who is conservitive and who isn't..... or any history of the US Supreme Courts political philosophy historicity ...
http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2012/06/supreme-court-roberts-obamacare-charts
If we stop the damn War For Drugs, then the legal system will be reduced to a number manageable by both public and private defenses.
It stopped being the justice system a long time ago, now its the just-us system. All the police, public defenders, district attorneys, jailers, judges and prison personel all have one thing in common. They are all unionized pub-lick employees, and naturally they are out to ensure their own self importance and continuation of their pensions. Why is it every time, and I mean EVERY time there is a threat of a cut to the jails or prisons budgets they all come out in unison saying how child-molesters and murders will be released if they dont get more money, you mean to tell me they dont have a few hundred thousand pot heads locked up that they can let go free, they gotta release the child-molesters, then, of course, they get lotsa more munny, build more jails, fill em up, then threaten to release the child-molesters if they dont get more money. The judicial system in our country is the most corrupt part of our government.
Yours is an argument which begins with the chicken or the egg... which comes first?
Public defenders are ineffective... because?... there are too many crimes, criminals. Now if we were to actually punish minor crimes in an effective manner, then people would not get set in criminal ways. Overtime, the would mean fewer cases needing to be adjudicated, resulting in more time real justice to be practiced causing less failures in our legal system, which happen way too often allowing innocent people to be punished for crimes they never did.
"Because he was a nobody".
Sadly, that says it all.
Yes
The public defender offices (for the most part) are a complete joke. Currently there is a system - chain of events that takes place when a person is charged with a crime. First, a person is severly over-charged with a long string of offenses. Then bail is set so high that the average person cannot obtain reasonable bail & cannot get out of jail. A court appointed public defender who has 200 other cases besides yours, does absolutely nothing to fight for your right to be "presumed innocent" & you end up sitting in jail for months or even years waiting for the case to progress. Meanwhile, the defendant has lost their job, home, family, personal possessions & reputation. After a yr or so the defendant is approached by the court appointed attorney & told that a deal has been offered - "plead guilty to reduced charges & you can go home today". THERE YOU HAVE IT - the public defender did no work, the prosecutor did no work, you life is completely destroyed & you have a new unjustified conviction... nearly 100% of defendants will take the deal because they have no other option. This is a discrace to the legal system & it takes place every day all across this country... NOT JUSTICE!
The US Criminal courts are not courts of justice, they are courts of law. Justice has nothing to do with what happens in them.
Wrong Dirp! Lawyers LITIGATE. Juries deliberate. Judges DISPENSE justice. The courts are merely an arena to resolve civil and criminal issues.
The arbitrary and lazy way in which judges apply the law does not resemble dispensing justice in any way.
I am also a nobody and even sadder I am an Afrikaans nobody. My people a subjected to an on-going silent Genocide in South Africa while we are abused by USA Companies in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
Here is the last letter I submitted by hand to the DOD USA Military Attaché at the USA Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa. My 80 year old Widowed Mother and I are about to lose everything we have due to the callous disregard for law by an USA Company. If anybody can help please do so as I am at wits end and have been fighting this in all possible forums since the 19th of July 2012.
May God be with you.
28 February 2013
The Military Attaché
United Sates of America
South African Embassy
Pretoria
Sir/Madam,
DOD USA Contractor getting fired for refusal to obey illegal
order.
I need your urgent help. Last year I was appointed as Health and Safety Manager
on a DOD USA contract in Gereshk, Helmand, Afghanistan. As in all OSHA
positions I was supposed to be protected by and to report back directly to Head
Office. It did not happen and I had to report back to the local PM who
victimized me in order to turn me into a rubber stamp.
At the same time I was also appointed as Tactical Medic (part of the Protection
Team who was armed illegally as there was no permission given by the relevant
authorities for the team to be armed) and Primary Health Care Medic. I was
threatened with instant dismissal if the DOD USA should find out about it as
the positions were in conflict with one another and I was only paid for one
position.
I was given an illegal order and
when I refused it, except if given prior written permission by the Surgeon
General DOD USA, I was summarily dismissed by the VP Scott Vic. I was paid up
to the 19th of July 2012.
I am the sole bread winner and have
to provide for myself and my 80 yo widowed Mother. Since the beginning of
February 2013 I have been in debt and have no income due to Tetra Tech’s
illegal and malicious actions. My Mother and I will soon lose everything we
have. I am asking you for urgent help as this all happened on a DOD USA
Contract and I am a DOD USA Contractor.
I annex written proof of Tetra Tech’s illegal actions hereto (last e mails).
Kind regards,
______________
+27 12 654 9993 (landline)
+27 82 748 9759 (mobile)
From: Vick, Scott
Sent: 17 July 2012 07:22 AM
To: delaPorte, Louis; 'wvr30@yahoo.co.uk'; Britz, Tony
Cc: Prinaris, Michael; Matheny, Sam; 'renierdejager@gmail.com'
Subject: Re: Clinic Update
Louis,
No one is asking for confidential information related to our staff. We are
conducting an inspection of our facility. Due to your refusal to comply, you
will take the next available helicopter to Bastion, fly DFS to Dubai, and
return to South Africa.
Michael - assist Louis with his DFS ticket from Bastion to Dubai.
Scott Vick, PE | Vice President
Cell: 615.289.615.289.8083
scott.vick@tetratech.com
Tetra Tech EC | International Construction
PRI/DJI TtEC HERC Afghanistan
Kabul, Afghanistan | www.tetratech.com
From: delaPorte, Louis
Sent: Monday, July 16, 2012 07:43 PM
To: werner vanrooyen <wvr30@yahoo.co.uk>; Britz, Tony
Cc: Prinaris, Michael; Matheny, Sam; Renier De Jager
<renierdejager@gmail.com>; Vick, Scott
Subject: RE: Clinic Update
Wern,
I am not prepared to violate the Medical Confidentiality except on orders
from the Surgeon General, DOD USA as this is a DOD Contract. I have the utmost
respect for Tetra Tech and its management, so this is not to be seen as a
slight in their direction, but purely my need to respect and stay within the
law.
I am also not prepared to take any responsibility for the
"Clinic" and the contents thereof if I am not in sole possession of
the keys thereto. I have had a spare key to the clinic up in my room in the
past (hanging on the wall in clear sight) so that if something happened to me
Tetra Tech management could take the spare key to my room, unlock my room, take
the spare key to the clinic and do whatever is necessary there, but that key is
no longer under my control.
I am willing to submit to any drug tests that Tetra Tech may deem fit at
any stage as I have nothing to hide.
Kind regards,
Louis de la Porte
Health and Safety Manager / Medic
Gereshk Project, Tetra Tech/MEC LLC
Afghan Mobile: +93 (0) 796 668 3010
E mail: Louis.delaPorte@tetratech.com
Tetra Tech |
2200 Wilson Blvd. Suite 400 | Arlington, Virginia 22201 | www.tetratech.com
________________________________________
From: werner vanrooyen [wvr30@yahoo.co.uk]
Sent: 16 July 2012 11:11 PM
To: Britz, Tony; delaPorte, Louis
Cc: Prinaris, Michael; Matheny, Sam; Renier De Jager
Subject: Re: Clinic Update
Louis
Please adhere to this request from Tony, you can CC him in on the Gharesk
monthly medical report.
There is however the matter of patient confidentiality by law covered under
ethics, but we are in a unique environment where we operate under small team
principals.
There for I trust that medical information sheared by the EMT to the relevant
managers will stay confidential.
Regards
Wern
"Ten soldiers wisely led will beat a hundred without a head." -
Euripides
From: "Britz, Tony" <tony.britz@tetratech.com>
To: "delaPorte, Louis" <Louis.delaPorte@tetratech.com>; Van
Rooyen Wern <wvr30@yahoo.co.uk>
Cc: "Prinaris, Michael" <Michael.Prinaris@tetratech.com>;
"Matheny, Sam" <Sam.Matheny@tetratech.com>; Renier De Jager
<renierdejager@gmail.com>
Sent: Monday, 16 July 2012, 14:34
Subject: Clinic Update
Louis,
I need a monthly update on the Clinic/First Aid station, this include but
not limited to;
• Status of medicine and dispensing
• equipment
• sick call register update
• requirements
Thanks
Tony
Tony Britz
Construction Manager
Mobile 1: +93(0)70 496 7242
+93(0)70 496 7242
Skype: tony.britz
tony.britz@tetratech.com
Tetra Tech EC
Mid East Construction
Afghanistan
www.tetratech.com
P Think Green - Not every email needs to be printed.
PLEASE NOTE: This message, including any attachments, may include
confidential and/or inside information. Any distribution or use of this
communication by anyone other than the intended recipient is strictly
prohibited and may be unlawful. If you are not the intended recipient,
please notify the sender by replying to this message and then delete it from
your system
I am sorry about your situation. But why on Earth did you decide to make such a posting, and such a long one, in a place where it has absolutely no merit?
Confidentiality is NOT a law, it is a protection. No wonder you were canned. This is a problem today, vital information is refused by doctors on the premise of protection of patients when at the same time this confidentiality can lead to more serious problems.
In the guise of a military situation many things change, there is a completely different set of legal institutions, that seems you refused to obey.
Good luck on getting anything, you're going to fail.
Are you, by chance, a Nigerian prince?
Snuffeltiffie is probably hoping that a site moderator will send his posting on to the news desk.
Good luck with that.
As a U.S. Government teacher for many years, I used notable court cases to help students understand how the Court works, it's effect on individuals from all walks of life. Gideon v Wainwright was one of those cases. I also took the time to show the film, time allowing, to put a more personal feeling to it.
Clarence Gideon was a brave, resolute, if not stubborn man. But sometimes that's what it takes. Wow, 50 years ago.
He was a crook. Good law evolved from his efforts, but lets not forget, the guy was a darn crook.
The title used for this story insults the reader who has the education and the judgment to see evidence of an attitude YET persistent as hell among prejudiced elitists about those believed to be less. This man was NOT a "nobody". Neither are WE. The media and government (state and federal) STILL groups people into categories convenient to a pecking order based on MONEY and influence of other forms (education/ family name/bla bla bla). Prisons remain filled with people falsely convicted due to negligence and deliberate abuse by the legal system and corrupt courts. There is no parity in terms of law unless you are rich enough to compel respect because you are enviable, or feared.
@ Handy Rooney. Agreed there are very few wealthy people in U.S. and State penitentiaries. The Media and some wealthy criminal defense lawyers (with the help of unpaid law students) throw the public a bone occasionally to "illustrate" how wonderful the "American Justice System" is. The fact remains that until impoverished DEFENDANTS are allowed the same resources as the State, nothing will change. Our corruption is institutionalized.
"As a result, they're forced to persuade people to plead guilty without investigating what actually happened, without talking to a single witness in the case," she said. "There are thousands of people languishing in jail without a lawyer -- and thanks to budget constraints, people aren't really getting their day in court with a lawyer standing there defending them." (italics added)
And here lies the problem with our overcrowded jails and prisons. Not to mention the overcrowded court calendars due to the continued continuances of cases. Incompetent attorneys getting paid tax payer dollars to not do their job(s).
These Public Defenders may show up to court (at times they don’t even do that) – waive their client(s) rights and leave their client(s) sitting in jails for months, even years, waiting for a resolution to their case. The only hope some of the people have is to receive a decent appellate attorney on an appeal. That can take forever. That motion for the will most part will read that the client was in court with "Ineffective assistance of counsel" and go on to mention what the prior didn't do to assist his client at the time.
I have seen some ask the courts for an attorney outside the public defenders office, and have been appointed a private attorney in place of the public defender.
Troubling nonetheless.
No one is "just a nobody." This man was more "somebody" than a lot of people will ever be.
I have a love hate relationship for this man. On one hand, he helps those who are accused of crimes they may not have actually committed, due to overzealous prosecutors and crooked police. On the other hand, he's the reason why we pay exorbitant amounts of money to defend people like James Holmes (Aurora theater shooter), and Jared Loughner (Tucson shooter), so that they can mount an insanity defense and spend millions upon millions of dollars of taxpayer money.
Unfortunate side effects, I agree. But this is the cost of freedom.
That is an unfortunate side effect of freedom, but keep in mind, only those who commit crimes that make the headlines actually have such resources supplied to them. The average murderer or lesser criminal receives little actual legal assistance, if any. And yes, the clogged courts have a lot to do with rampant plea bargaining.
Gideon v. Wainwright is a good rule. So is Miranda vs Arizona. But, I have little doubt of their actual guilt.
See above...I agree 100%
I just went poop!~
Your comment is as brilliant as your screen name, which identifies you as a sneering, insulting conservative no nothing.
it's "know nothing" not "no nothing". if you're going to insult someone else's stupidity, at least don't demonstrate yours in the process...geez
When I saw the headline I thought it was about Dubya
Interesting this happened in FLORIDA?
From as long as anyone can remember, right up till today, the STATE OF FLORIDA continues to pass Unconstitutional Laws and enforce them in Questionable ways, that later the Laws are either Repealed, or Amended...
It is a disgrace that should not be tolerated in the United States of America.
The U.S.Constitution is the LAW OF THE LAND, even in FLORIDA, though if the STATE OF FLORIDA had it's way, that would not be so.
Free legal-counsel for felon’s and indigent, seem to strike a similar cord as health-care… similarly; if you’re in the military, or government, you’re afforded free-legal console, provided what you’re charged with occurred while in their service.
That being said, and with the precedence of free-health-care reform, why shouldn’t legal counsel be free too?
I’m sure there’d be tens/hundred’s-thousands of lawyer’s who’d protest any attempt at providing a free service to the American people, as they’d then be out of a lucrative job, whereby they can bill/extort hundreds of dollars an hour from their clients with little/no-effort being made on their account (exception being their bank accounts).
The value of a professional lawyer can be easily assessed by analyzing some of the jokes made at their behest (i.e., what’s the best use for a lawyer; one who’s swinging from a rope and being used as a boat-anchor…). Truly, they are one of the more despised professions, as they’re rarely viewed as standing-up for the common man’s interests.
So, those who want a more progressive court-system, start beating those drums, who knows, free-legal console may be attainable…
Thank you, Kevin C-752389, for pointing out the broken link to the habeas petition. It's working now.
Gideon's petition to the Supreme Court (.pdf)
Man gets 5 years for stealing 5 dollars worth of goods. Those anti tax conservatives wonder why their taxes are so high.
is this good or not....maybe....maybe not.....if he was found guilty
this would not even happen now....an OH ....the cost.
There is no justice in the system for people who cannot afford legal assistance. Many changes would occur if people could see what happens in a courtroom when there is a lawyer on one side only, or where the resources belong to one side only. It is OJ in reverse for the poor. This is why WS bankers aren't sitting in jail right now.
As long as there is a lawyer for the people, there should be a lawyer for the defense, automatically, and without question, unless specifically waived by the defendant. Resources should be allocated for investigation. As one is innocent until proven guilty, there should be no advance caveat foisting the expenses on the defendant.
Law enforcement is well intentioned most of the time, but they are human, and subject to pressures, and they make mistakes.
I'd like to see all cases where there is DNA evidence sitting around reviewed, if the defendant asks.
Prosecutors may prefer to keep cases closed, there is often great emotional investment, but truth should outweigh all other considerations.
There are surely innocents sitting on Death Row. This should strike the conscience of every person calling themselves Christian, as deeply as abortion. If only God has the power of life and death, then surely we trespass there at our peril.
My personal objection is more objective. Having seen the system at work, I would be loathe to trust it to life and death decisions.
What's 500 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean? A good start.
A old curse: May your life be filled with lawyers.
Gideon's Trumpet was one of the most influential books I ever read. I regret to say America has come down to discovering truly inspiring stories only after movies based on books are made. We don't eve read anymore, do we? We wait for the movie. If this story caught your interest please consider reading any of Louis Nizer's books about other great cases in American jurisprudence that are not household names. And after you have done that google Louis Lusky Shuffling Sam and your probably low opinion of lawyers may change.