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Case Study: Gideon V. Wainwright

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Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) In Gideon v. Wainwright, Clarence Earl Gideon was convicted of breaking and entering into a pool hall, and he was also charged of stealing money and alcohol. At his trial, Gideon did not have the sufficient funds to get an attorney, so he asked the judge if he could be appointed an attorney. Gideon’s request was denied by the judge because according to the Florida law, the only time a attorney could be appointed to someone was for poor defendants who were charged with capital offenses. This is the point where the constitutional issue began. Gideon fended for himself as best as he could but failed and was sent to prison. While serving his time, Gideon insisted that he should have been appointed an attorney, so he did research based on the prison library. After he was well informed he petitioned the Supreme Court arguing that he should have been appointed an attorney but his request was denied. And that was his constitutional issue, people should be appointed an attorney if they cannot afford one even if they are not being charged with a capital offense and he claimed …show more content…
One of the viewpoints was that it was unconstitutional to deny somebody’s request to be appointed an attorney. The Florida Supreme Court could relate Gideon’s case to Betts v. Brady (1942). Betts went through a situation practically identical to Gideon’s. While Betts claimed only being denied the right or the Fourteenth Amendment, Gideon claimed that he was being denied the right to the fourth amendment, Fifth Amendment, and the fourteenth amendment. The opposing viewpoint claimed that Gideon did not need to be appointed an attorney. For one, he was being charged for a misdemeanor under the Florida law and you could only be appointed legal assistance if you committed a capital offense. And it was also said that as long as the person being trialed was on their “right mind”, they didn’t need a

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