What did the Supreme Court say about the right to counsel in Gideon v. Wainwright?

0:03It's the ability to have a lawyer help you. Now, as I mentioned, through the 17th century, most defendants represented themselves, but people had the right to hire a lawyer if they wanted. At the time, there wasn't much in the rules of evidence and procedure, but our rules have become increasingly complex and technical as lawyers really took over and ran the show over the course of the 19th century. By the time we get to the middle of the 20th century, trials have become too complicated, and everyone who has the money can hire a lawyer for himself or herself. So in a series of cases from the 1930s until Gideon v. Wainwright in 1961, I think it was, the Supreme Court held that whenever you are charged with a crime, a crime that can result in your being put in jail, felonies, and then later they said misdemeanors. If you can't afford a lawyer,

0:57the government has to give one to you. You have to show that you can't afford it. But if you can't and the prosecution has a prosecuting lawyer, then to even the scales, we have to give a defense lawyer to the defendant, because these days, with so many rules of evidence and procedure and jury instructions, it's really hard to try your own case before a jury. The Supreme Court had started with some of the most serious cases, some young Black men who were being railroaded and facing the death penalty in the hostile South. But by the time we get to Clarence Earl Gideon was a small-time thief. He had been accused of breaking into a pool hole and stealing a bunch of coins from I think a vending machine. He put on his own defense about as well as he could. He tried to question the government's main witness. The government's main witness had said,

1:47No, I saw him coming out of there. His pockets were full of change and he said, I've won that change of a poker game, but he got convicted. Well, the Supreme Court appointed a lawyer for him, and the lawyer made the point that our system is now too complicated for him to defend himself. The Supreme Court recognized that the Sixth Amendment guarantees a lawyer for him just because he's charged with a serious crime.

2:10They sent the case back down. He got a lawyer. At the retrial, the lawyer got the government's main witness on Cross, destroyed his story, and pointed to him as the likely culprit. The government's witness was the one who was blaming Gideon to deflect blame from himself. So on retrial with a lawyer to Pokhles in the story, the jury acquitted Gideon. Gideon Trumpet is a wonderful book about that recognizing the rights of even the poorest people to have a fair shake in a defense.