Pennsylvania Capital-Star
March 26, 2023
Last week marked the 60th Anniversary
of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Gideon v. Wainwright. In Gideon,
the high court unanimously ruled that state courts are required to provide
legal counsel for those defendants accused of a crime who cannot afford a
lawyer.
A landmark decision is a court case that is studied
because it has historical and legal significance. The most significant
cases are those that alter the legal landscape and have a lasting effect on the
application of American jurisprudence.
Did the Gideon decision alter the legal
landscape more than six decades ago?
The Sixth Amendment provides, “In all criminal
prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right . . . to have the assistance of
counsel for his defense.”
In 1932, the U.S. Supreme Court decided Powell
v. Alabama. The court ruled that the U.S. Constitution requires defendants
in capital cases, those facing the death penalty, be given access to
counsel.
Ten years later in Betts v.
Brady, the court refused to extend the right to counsel to criminal
charges other that capital murder. In Betts, it was held that a
refusal to appoint counsel for an indigent defendant charged with a felony did
not violate the U.S. Constitution.
Then came Clarence Earl Gideon, a 51-year-old
drifter and petty-thief. He was charged with breaking and entering in
Florida. The charge was a felony and when Gideon first appeared before
the court he was without funds, without counsel and he asked the court to appoint
him a lawyer.
The judge apologized to Gideon and said that Florida
law only provides for counsel in capital cases. Gideon replied, “The United
States Supreme Court says I am entitled to be represented by counsel.”
Gideon represented himself, was convicted and appealed
to the Florida Supreme Court. His appeal was denied and his case made its way
to the U.S. Supreme Court. The U.S. Supreme Court appointed a very
capable attorney, Abe Fortas to represent Gideon. Fortas would one day
take a seat on the U.S. Supreme Court.
Fortas told the court that the federal government
already recognized that the Sixth Amendment required the appointment of counsel
for indigent defendants facing felony charges.
He also pointed out that 37 states provided for the
appointment of counsel by statute, administrative rule or court decision.
Eight states provided counsel as a matter of practice. In an unprecedented act
of support for the rights of those accused of a crime, twenty-two state
attorneys general joined Gideon in urging the court to establish an absolute
constitutional right to counsel in criminal cases.
Only five states — Florida, Alabama, Mississippi,
North Carolina and South Carolina — did not provide counsel for indigent
defendants.
Justice George Sutherland wrote 30 years before Gideon,
“Even the intelligent and educated layman has small and sometimes no skill in
the science of law.” Fortas argued in Gideon, “You cannot have a fair
trial without counsel.”
By modern standards, Justice Hugo Black’s opinion
in Gideon was not very long — only about 2,500 words — but what
he said was compelling:
“[R]eason and reflection require us to recognize
that in our adversary system of criminal justice, any person hauled into
court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless
counsel is provided for him. This seems to us to be an obvious truth.”
Sixty years after Gideon the focus has
evolved from merely the right to counsel — to the right to effective
representation. That representation has turned from ensuring a fair trial
to ensuring effective assistance on matters such as plea bargaining and the
collateral consequences of sentencing.
Today that job is literally overwhelming. Nearly
half of all Americans have a loved one who is currently or formerly incarcerated.
More than 5 million people are under supervision by
the criminal legal system. Nearly 2 million people, are living in jails and
prisons, a 500% increase since 1973, April Frazier Camara, president of the
National Legal Aid & Defenders Association, and colleagues, recently wrote
in the USA Today.
America locks up more people for long periods of
time than any other nation on earth.
Now, more than ever, this country needs competent
public criminal defense. A body of lawyers not influenced by the resources of a
particular county or state—or the activism of any court or legislative body.
If the right to counsel in America’s courtrooms is
going to be more than mere lip service, money, time and resources must be
invested in the defense of indigents accused of a crime. Their rights are our
rights—a buffer between rogues, zealots, and demagogues.
Matthew T. Mangino is of counsel with Luxenberg,
Garbett, Kelly and George. P.C. and the former district attorney of Lawrence
County, Pa. He is the author of The Executioner’s Toll. You can follow
him on twitter @MatthewTMangino or contact him
at mmangino@lgkg.com. His work appears frequently on the
Capital-Star’s Commentary Page.
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