Monday, March 18, 1963: Gideon v. Wainwright

From oyez.org (link below):

   In 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon was charged in a Florida state court with a felony for breaking and entering. He lacked funds and was unable to hire a lawyer to prepare his defense. When he requested the court to appoint an attorney for him, the court refused, stating that it was only obligated to appoint counsel to indigent defendants in capital cases. Gideon defended himself in that trial; he was was convicted by a jury and the court sentenced him to five years in a state prison.

   In a unanimous decision on March 18, 1963, the Supreme Court held that Gideon had a right to be represented by a court-appointed attorney ... The Court found that the Sixth Amendment's guarantee of counsel was a fundamental right, essential to a fair trail, which should be made applicable to the states through the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Florida State Prison photo from September 11, 1961; from Florida Department of Archives

* Transcript (from supreme.justia.com): @

* Audio of oral arugments (from oyez.org): @

* Gideon's Petition for a Writ of Certiorari (from National Archives, January 1962): @

* "Answer to respondent's response for Writ of Certiori" (April 1962): @ (images) and @ (text)
* Documents from Florida Supreme Court case files (from Florida Division of Library and Information Services): @

* Summary (from pbs.org): @

* Short podcast (from uscourts.gov): @

* "Gideon's Trumpet" (Anthony Lewis, 1964): @

* Gideonslegacy.org: @

* Video -- 50th anniversary program from American Bar Association Litigation (January 2013): @
* "Just an ordinary inmate" (St. Petersburg Times, March 20, 1963): @ 
* Constitutional amendments (from National Archives and Records Administration): @

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