Supreme Court’s Case of Gideon v. Wainwright, Case Study Example

In the case of Gideon v. Wainwright held in 1963, Gideon, the petitioner, was accused in a Florida state court of a major crime for breaking and entering. He was not stable financially and was not capable of hiring a lawyer to organize his defense. However, when he applied for an attorney to be appointed by the court, the court declined the application, announcing that it was only required to assign a counsel to needy defendants in central cases. Therefore, Gideon was forced to defend himself before the jury and, as a result, was found guilty by a jury. Consequently, the court’s verdict was to assign a prison term of five years in the state prison. In the case of Faretta v. California (1975), the Supreme Court annulled the guilty verdict of a defendant obligated to obtain the services of a public defender in a felony lawsuit, presuming that the Sixth Amendment secures the privilege to self-representation once a defendant consciously and cleverly demands it.

There is a certain contradiction between the two cases. Commenting the Gideon v. Wainwright, “Justice Black called it an “obvious truth” that a fair trial for a poor defendant could not be guaranteed without the assistance of counsel. Those familiar with the American system of justice, commented Black, recognized that “lawyers in criminal courts are necessities, not luxuries” (Gideon v. Wainwright). In the second case, the disagreement between the state and the opposition was that society is interested in a just trial, free from the defendant’s requests.

References

Gideon v. Wainwright. (2009). The Oyez Project. Retrieved May 12, 2009, from http://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1962/1962_155/