In 1962, Clarence Earl Gideon, a 51-year-old drifter with an eighth-grade education, sat in a Florida prison cell serving five years for a pool hall burglary in which five dollars, a few beers, and soda pop were taken. States were not required to provide lawyers to defendants in most criminal cases at that time. Mr. Gideon hand-wrote in his petition to the U.S. Supreme Court:
"The (State of Florida) claims that a citizen can get a equal and fair trial without legal counsel [and]
"That the constitution of the United States does not apply to the State of Florida.
"Petitioner thinks that the fourteenth ammendment. makes this so.
"Petitioner will attempt to show this Court that a citizen of the State of Florida cannot get a just and fair trial without the aid of counsel …
"(The State) claims that I have no right to file petitions for a Writ of Habeas Corpus. Take away this right to a citizen and there is nothing left. "It makes no difference how old I am or what color I am or what church I belong too if any. The question is I did not get a fair trial. The question is very simple. I requested the court to appoint me attorney and the court refused. All countrys try to give there Citizens a fair trial and see to it that they have counsel."
Mr. Gideon would not accept his fate. Against great odds, on March 18, 1963, the U.S. Supreme Court agreed with him that his trial was unfair because he was denied the right to an attorney.
In this column I have addressed the rights of all citizens to remain silent and not incriminate themselves when charged with a crime, as well as the right to the presumption of innocence. Another important Constitutional right is to have a court-appointed attorney if you financially qualify. This applies to all crimes for which a conviction may result in a jail or prison term. It does not apply to petty misdemeanors, offenses for which the maximum sentence is a $300 fine.
The court has financial guidelines it is required to apply to determine whether a criminal defendant is entitled to a public defender. The court may also order that a defendant contribute some money toward the expense of their court-appointed attorney, depending on their financial circumstances.
Defending public defenders
Recently I asked a defendant if he wanted to apply for a public defender, to which he replied, "I want to get an actual lawyer."
Minnesota is fortunate to have an excellent public defender system staffed with experienced and extremely-dedicated attorneys who carry very heavy caseloads. They are in the courtrooms of Minnesota every day representing thousands of citizens who otherwise would not have an attorney to advise and counsel them. All citizens are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This presumption means little if citizens are not afforded an attorney when they certainly cannot under any circumstances afford one. In all but petty offenses juveniles are entitled to a court-appointed attorney.
When any citizen is charged with a misdemeanor or felony in Minnesota, they may obtain an application for legal assistance from the court, fill it out completely and submit it to the court administrator. The application is reviewed by a judge to determine the defendant’s financial qualification for a public defender under federal poverty guidelines.
What happened to Clarence Gideon? He had to face a re-trial for the burglary charge, but with a court-appointed lawyer to present his defense and challenge the State’s evidence. The jury found him not guilty, more than two years after he went to prison.
Robert F. Kennedy, then U.S. Attorney General, said this about Clarence Gideon:
"If an obscure Florida convict named Clarence Earl Gideon had not sat down in prison with a pencil and paper to write a letter to the Supreme Court, and if the Supreme Court had not taken the trouble to look for merit in that one crude petition among all the bundles of mail it must receive every day, the vast machinery of American law would have gone functioning undisturbed. But Gideon did write that letter. The Court did look into his case and he was retried with the help of a competent defense counsel, found not guilty, and released from prison after two years of punishment for a crime he did not commit, and the whole course of American legal history has been changed."
Wright County District Court Judge Stephen Halsey and other judges in the 10th District contribute occasional articles to this column. The district includes Wright County.
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