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attorney

rison illegally. Gideon's biggest problem was that 20 years earlier the United States Supreme Court had already discarded an argument that every defendant should have the right to an attorney. So Gideon's short, awkward, hand-written appeal was asking the U.S. Supreme Court to change its mind. Fortunately for Gideon, the Court was ready to consider doing just that. In 1963, when Gideon filed his appeal, about half of all the people convicted in state courts could not afford to hire a lawyer. Consequently, the Supreme Court Justices had recently had to reverse a lot of convictions because serious legal errors were made when defendants had been forced to defend themselves in court without the help of lawyers. So the Supreme Court Justices decided to hear Gideon's petition and they appointed a famous Washington attorney, Abe Fortas, to represent Gideon. Fortas became a member of the Supreme Court just a few years later. In the decision in Gideon v. Wainwright in 1963, the Supreme Court unanimously held 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." In their decision, the Supreme Court Justices noted that anyone who could afford a criminal defense lawyer always hired one, and that the government always hired lawyers to bring such prosecution. The Justices determined that lawyers in criminal courts are necessities, not luxuries." Gideon got a new trial and a court appointed lawyer for which he did not have to pay. Clarence Gideon had been right. He did need a lawyer's help to be found not guilty. He was acquitted by a jury and set free from jail. Clarence Gideon's handwritten petition to the Supreme Court gave all of us the right to have an attorney appointed for us by the court if we can't afford a lawyer on our own in a criminal case. I think that this is a good ca...

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