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Case Brief Of Gideon V. Wainwright

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Gideon v. Wainwright( 1963, 9-0 Vote Decision) Facts of the Case/Question Clarence Earl Gideon was charged in Florida state court with a felony because he broke into and entered a poolroom with the intent to commit a misdemeanor offense. When he appeared in court, Gideon requested that the court appoint a lawyer for him because he did not have one. However, according to Florida state law, an attorney may only be appointed to a needy defendant in capital cases, so the court did not appoint one. Gideon represented himself at the trial. He was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. Gideon filed a habeas corpus petition in the Florida Supreme Court and argued that the trial’s decision to not allow him a lawyer violated his constitutional …show more content…

Reasons for Dissenting Opinion - None ,because the Vote decision was unanimous Significance of Case: The old "unfair trial" rule, when the government had a fair amount of leeway in criminal proceedings as long as there were no "shocking departures from fair procedure" was discarded, replaced by a firm set of "procedural guarantees" based on constitutional amendments. The number of public defenders were increased in many states. Furman v. Georgia(1972, 5-4 Vote Decision) Facts of the Case/Question William Henry Furman was burglarizing a private home when a family member found him. He tried to flee, and while doing so tripped and fell. The gun that he carried went off and killed a resident of the home. He was eventually convicted of murder and sentenced to death. The question in this case is, “Is the imposition and carrying out of the death penalty in this case cruel and unusual punishment in violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments?” Reasons for Majority …show more content…

This would mean that the death penalty is not unusual - Violates life’s experience and goes against any appreciation of life. Significance of Case The court's decision made states and national legislature rethink their beliefs about capital offenses to assure that the death penalty would not be administered in a unpredictable or discriminatory manner. However, the death penalty is still very controversial and debated, even today. Gregg v. Georgia(1976, 2-7 Vote Decision) Facts of the Case/Question: A jury found Gregg guilty of armed robbery and murder, then sentenced him to death. During appeal, the Georgia Supreme Court confirmed the death sentence, except it could not be used because of the robbery. Gregg challenged his death sentence for murder by claiming that his capital sentence was a "cruel and unusual" punishment that violated the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. This case also settled several other cases. Reasons for Majority Opinion - The death penalty is an acceptable penalty for the most severe of crimes. This holds true if the trial is carefully conducted. This implies that the death penalty is not a form of punishment that may never be

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Wainwright deserved no less attention than it got, although some say it didn’t. The case definitely should have gone to The Supreme Court and it deserved no less than a unanimous 9-0 vote by the Justices. Gideon also should have been proved not guilty in his second trial. Even though he did rob the pool hall he was not given a fair trial for his consequences so he didn’t have to face the consequences. The Gideon v. Wainwright case also violated the 6th and 14th amendment.

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578 Words | 3 Pages

Gideon then appealed to the Supreme Court who took his case. They reached a unanimous decision that the state of Florida, by denying Gideon an attorney, had violated his Sixth Amendment right. They said “The Sixth Amendment requires states to provide defense attorneys to any indigent criminal defendant charged with a felony or

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819 Words | 4 Pages

Gideon was undoubtedly found guilty of the crime and was sent to prison. While he sat in a Florida prison, Gideon felt that his constitutional right to have an attorney was not granted. Thus, Gideon formulated an appeal to the Supreme Court handwritten on prison paper. The Supreme Court accepted his documents and decided to hear his case. Prior to Gideon vs Wainwright, Betts vs Brady was the case doctrine that was followed.

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Gideon challenges the Florida court decision, and he decides to researched books about law to figure a way to overturn the court’s decision. Gideon makes the Due Process Law his way to fix the wrongdoing of the lower court. At the end, Gideon finally completes all the forms that he needed, and

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Gideon v. Wainwright was a Supreme Court case in 1963 where the court ruled that the courts had to provide counsel to the party being charged if they could not afford one. Clarence Earl Gideon was charged with breaking and entering in the Bay Harbor Pool Room in Panama City, Florida. He could not afford an attorney and the court denied his request for them to provide him one since it was not a capital offense, in that time courts were not required to provide an attorney to a party on trail if the crime was not a capital offense. Gideon was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. He originally sent his request that his trail was unfair to the Florida Supreme Court; it was denied.

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His conviction was overturned making Gideon’s case the first in history to be overturned on a ruling challenging the sixth and fourteenth amendments, therefore, setting a precedent for future cases. Although Gideon overcame what some would say a landmark case his battle was not over yet. He was retried for the crime even though it had been over two years, which is past the statue of limitation. He was also retried for the same crime twice which should have fallen under the double jeopardy law under the Fifth Amendment. Fortunately, Gideon had good representation from his counsel who in fact won Gideon’s freedom on the 2nd

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The history of the modern right to counsel for defendants who cannot afford to pay for counsel or lawyer goes back over a century ago; the Indiana Supreme Court in Webb v. Baird, 6 Ind. 13 (1853), officially recognized the right to counsel for a person accused of a crime. However, this decision was not based on constitutional or statutory law but warranted under “the principles of a civilized society.” Since the case of Webb v. Baird, the courts have immensely extended the right to counsel beyond just appointing an indigent person an attorney. For more than a hundred years, the Right to Counsel Clause was interpreted as simply granting the right to retain a private attorney to a defendant but didn’t mean that a poor criminal defendant had

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In December 1993, Lindsey Owings went to the Walker County, in Texas, to report a burglary in his home which he shared with his wife Margaret and their daughter Kori Rae, he also stated that his wife and daughter were missing. An anonymous tip placed Raymond Levi Cobb, who lived across the street from the Owings and was a first respondent, in the Owings house at the time of the burglary. He was interrogated by the Walker County investigators about the events that took place at the time, but he denied any involvement in both the burglary and the missing women, besides the anonymous tip, there was no evidence placing at the time of the events at the house or near the house, nor there was evidence about his involvement in the burglary or the disappearances

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Rough Draft Is the death penalty an effective and justified punishment? This is a topic many Americans have discussed for a long time, and has caused much controversy. Both sides have their pros and cons, and they will be discussed. The first point that many people have about capital punishment is that it’s unconstitutional.

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Most states were trying to decide whether the death penalty should be legal. The supporters argued that capital punishment was a necessary evil because it kept the crime rates down. It also made the potential murderer second guess taking an innocent man’s life. On the other hand, the opposers stated that the death penalty was inhumane and violates the eighth amendment. “Lethal Injection.”

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The United States Criminal Justice System continues to evolve through the uses of case law and precedence established by debate from opposing sides. The rulings by upper courts become the law of the land; however, these decisions rarely settle the debates from opposing views. This holds true in the U.S Supreme Court Case No. 07–5439, known as Baze v. Rees (Baze v. Rees, 2008). This essay is a response to the Supreme Court case and subsequent decision about the use of lethal injection, and how the Eighth Amendment to the United States Constitution defines cruel and unusual punishment.

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Research Perspective: The Death penalty The death penalty in regards to our nation as well as our world is one of the biggest issues today because it plays god. The death penalty decides who can live and who dies. I got into this topic when I was reading about the Atkins v. Virginia case. Crimes and law has always fascinated me.

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Wainwright illustrated the importance of personal rights guaranteed by the constitution. This case began when Clarence Gideon was denied a court appointed lawyer to represent him in a petty crime case. Gideon, unable to afford his own lawyer, was unable to adequately defend himself and consequently was convicted. However, he was undeterred. Gideon then wrote a letter to the Supreme Court to overturn this conviction with the 6th Amendment as his evidence of the court’s misconduct.

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Virginia and Roper v. Simmons can be used to show the how the death penalty is unconstitutional in America. The constitutionality of the death penalty has been argued in various court cases. The eighth amendment states that any cruel and unusual punishment is forbidden. The first case to deal with this topic was Gregg v. Georgia. In which the supreme court ruled that the death penalty was not unconstitutional and was not cruel and unusual punishment.

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Over the years, crazy things have happened in the world. Many of which are read about in the newspapers, seen on the local news channels, and have made the front pages of magazines. People read, hear, and see about the crazy, horrible, cringe-worthy crimes that people commit. There have been many cases and trials that are unbelievable or even more like a nightmare. Leaving it at a nightmare can not truly define some of the jaw-dropping actions of the human beings on earth.

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