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Gideon Vs Wainright Case Study

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Gideon v. Wainright Gideon v. Wainright was a turning point United States case that regulated that all states must provide a lawyer in all felonies and major capital cases for people who cannot afford to hire one. In 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon was charged in a Florida State Court with a felony for breaking and entering, in a pool hall in Panama City, Florida and stealing money from the vending machines. The burglary occurred around sometime in the early morning, when a witness reported that he had seen Clarence Earl Gideon in the pool hall at around 5;30 that morning, leaving with a bottle of wine, and money in his pockets. Build on this accusation, the police arrested Gideon and charged him with the fines for breaking and entering, and …show more content…

As the trial came to a close end the jury announced that Clarence Earl Gideon was guilty, and was convicted five years in prison. While being in jail Gideon filed a petition before the Florida Supreme Court declaring that the State of Florida had proclaimed an unfair case trial by denying him his Sixth Amendment the Right to the Assistance of Counsel. The petition sent to the Supreme Court was denied. Next, Gideon did not fall back; he appealed his case to the U.S Supreme Court claiming that putting him on trial without a lawyer was unfair due to the fact that it denied him due process of law against the 14th Amendment. The U.S Supreme Court came to a conclusion to review Gideon’s case, which …show more content…

The Supreme Court understood that in “in our adversary system of criminal justice, any person hauled into court, which is poor to hire an attorney, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided. The second trial finally occurred in 1963, were Gideon was found not guilty and was appointed by an attorney. Gideon was finally, set free acquainted by the Supreme Court jury. In contrast with the two trials Gideon faced an intense hardship. As the first trial occurred Gideon did not have a lawyer to his defense, the witnesses who testified on his behalf did not help prove his innocence in not being guilty; nor did Gideon know how to work the stance position towards his case. The first trial is an example of an unfair trial were the defendant is not granted the sign of human rights. Moving along to the second trial Gideon’s Assistance of Counsel was approved; he had one of the best lawyers Fred Turner to represent him. In the procession of the second trial Gideon was found not guilty; with the effort of his lawyer bringing out the prosecutions weaknesses of the case, knowing what questions to ask to cross examine. The human rights were finally shown in the second trial by allowing Gideon all the rights he needed for protection by

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Transcript of Civil Liberties & the Civil Rights Court Cases Assignment Civil Liberties & the Civil Rights Court Cases Assignment Gideon v Wainright Dates: Argued January 15, 1963 Decided March 18, 1963 Background: Charged in a Florida State Court with a non capital felony, petitioner appeared without funds and without counsel and asked the Court to appoint counsel for him, but this was denied on the ground that the state law permitted appointment of counsel for indigent defendants in capital cases only. Mapp v. Ohio Dates : Argued March 29, 1961

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The court refused, to which Gideon replied with the claim that the Supreme Court had ruled that all citizens being tried for a felony crime should have aid of counsel. The court ignored the defendants plea, and he was subsequently convicted. Gideon filed a habeas corpus petition to the Florida Supreme Court, which was also rejected. In Gideon's petition to the Supreme Court, found on page eight of the book, he claims that the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, stating that, "[n]o state shall deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law," was violated when the trial court denied Gideon's request for an attorney (Lewis). Although Gideon mentioned a right to counsel roughly six times in his plea, he never mentioned Betts v. Brady (1942).

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890 Words | 4 Pages

A decision held that under the Sixth Amendment, the defendant’s counsel had not met the standards of reasonable competence required of a defense. Even if a defendant and their family suggested that no mitigating evidence was available, it is required to use reasonable effort in obtaining and reviewing materials that the counsel expects prosecution to use as evidence during sentencing. The reasoning behind this decision argued that Rompella’s trial counsel did not make sensible efforts to examine the files on Rompilla’s prior convictions for rape and assault. The Court stated that the counsel should have known prosecution would present those files to the jury during sentencing, and that the information on Rompilla’s prior conviction would have found mitigating evidence about his mental health, childhood, and alcoholism that could have been used for a proper

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1659 Words | 7 Pages

On August 4, 1961 Clarence Earl Gideon was arrested for stealing money and drinks from a pool house in Florida. When he was arrested he was tried for his crimes. The 6th amendment states that if a defendant is too poor to provide a lawyer than he should be provided one by the Court, but Gideon was not given a lawyer. He was not given a lawyer because it says in the Florida law that lawyers are only provided in big felonies, not misdemeanors. So Gideon should have been provided a lawyer and was not.

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266 Words | 2 Pages

Clarence Earl Gideon was falsely accused of burglarizing a cigarette machine and jukebox inside a poolroom. When Gideon was sent to court to receive his sentence, he had no lawyer, therefore he had to defend himself. Despite his valiant efforts, Gideon was sent to 5 years in prison. While there, Gideon filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus hoping to challenge his conviction. His ability to file for a petition is a positive right, so even though he was not given a lawyer, despite his need and right to one, some of his positive rights—filing a petition—were still upheld.

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578 Words | 3 Pages

Then Gideon tried to defend himself, but like many of us, he could not defend very well so was found guilty. He then was sentenced to imprisonment. Then Gideon applied to the state supreme court with a Writ of Habeas Corpus on the ground that the conviction violated his sixth amendment right. The Florida State Supreme Court then reviewed his case and agreed with the lower court. Gideon was not eligible to receive an attorney from the state.

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618 Words | 3 Pages

Gideon v. Wainwright was a Supreme Court case that approached criminal justice around the mid 1950s and 1960s. In certain states criminals were not receiving fair representation in courts, which violated the Sixth Amendment. It wasn’t until the Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright of 1963 that this issue changed. Gideon v. Wainwright was the most controversial and influential the Supreme Court ever took on, due to the fact that it challenged the very way criminals are incarcerated by the court themselves. Earl Gideon was a man with an eighth-grade education, he ran away from home when he was in middle school.

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482 Words | 2 Pages

On August 2, 2009, David Leon Riley who belong to the Lincoln Park gang in San Diego, California open fire with others on a rival gang member that was driving past them. They then got into Riley’s Oldsmobile and drove away. The police pulled over driving a different car on August 20, 2009 for having expired registration tags, because Riley was driving with a suspended driver’s license, the required police policy is for the car to be impounded. Before any car is impounded, the police are required to perform a inventory search to make sure it has all the components at the time of the search, to protect against liability claims in the future, and to find hidden contraband. Police found 2 firearms and arrested Riley for possession of firearms.

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The written story of how Clarence Earl Gideon, a poor Florida man, went from a convicted criminal to ultimately redefining legal history is astounding. The Supreme Court commonly dismisses more cases than it accepts and the fact that a handwritten petition from a prison inmate was accepted shows that even the seemingly most insignificant person can make a difference in our society. The book’s literature is highly legalistic but constantly provides a detailed account of how the judicial system is constructed. Coming from a regular college student standpoint with no previous formal law education, this makes the underlying concept easier to grasp. The story’s setting during the time of the Gideon case, showed how the legal system was constructed towards the growing concept of a defendant’s rights.

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511 Words | 3 Pages

Gideon v. Wainwright was a 1963 landmark case in the United States Supreme Court. The court case involved the right to counsel under the Fifth and Sixth Amendment that eventually lead to a fundamental right. The Supreme Court eventually ruled that states are required under the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution to provide an attorney to defendants in criminal cases who are unable to afford their own attorneys. On June 3,1963 in Panama City, Florida a man known by Clarence Earl Gideon was arrested and charged with breaking and entering a poolroom in Florida with the intent to commit a misdemeanor offense therefore, he was charged with a felony. Clarence Earl Gideon was a poor man from Florida who ran away from home at a early age and was also under educated and had dyslexic throughout his life.

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790 Words | 4 Pages

Dalainah Gustafson Due Date: Journal 4 I am reading To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, and I am on page 304. The book is about a girl, Mayella, who is accusing a man, Tom Robinson, of raping her. They go to court and she gets caught lying and some people think that Tom Robinson is telling the truth. In this journal I will be predicting and evaluating.

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On January 15, 1963, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Gideon v. Wainwright. Abe Fortas, a Washington, D.C., attorney, and future Supreme Court justice, represented Gideon for free before the high court. He eschewed the safer argument that Gideon was a special case because he had only had an eighth-grade education level. Instead, Fortas asserted that no defendant, however competent or well educated, could provide an adequate self-defense against the state and that the U.S. Constitution ensured legal representation to all defendants charged with felonies. Two months later the court unanimously ruled that the denial of an attorney violated the Fourteenth Amendment, which guarantees due process.

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843 Words | 4 Pages

Even with his efforts, the jury still found Gideon guilty. He was sentenced to five years in prison. While in jail, in the library he researched about the Sixth Amendment, how the defendants should have the right to an attorney even when they cannot afford one and the law.. To try and change that, Gideon petitioned a habeas corpus. A habeas corpus is a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court to secure the person’s release unless lawful grounds are shown for their detention.

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549 Words | 3 Pages

During the punishment part of the trial, his first lawyer, who was provided for him, dropped out because he could not find any meaningful

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644 Words | 3 Pages

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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