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Clinical Associate Professor, University of Detroit Mercy School of Law. JD, 1988, Detroit College of Law, n/k/a Michigan State University College of Law. Before joining the faculty of UD Mercy Law, Ms. Costello was a member of the litigation department of Dykema Gossett. She coordinated, researched, and worked on the complaint in Duncan et al. v. State of Michigan, a class action lawsuit which alleged an inadequate and unconstitutional indigent defense system that harmed the named plaintiffs.
Annotation
Primary Holding
In a unanimous decision, the Supreme Court established that the Fourteenth Amendment creates a right for criminal defendants who cannot pay for their own lawyers to have the state appoint attorneys on their behalf.
Facts
Clarence Earl Gideon was arrested and charged with breaking and entering with the intent to commit petty larceny, based on a burglary that was committed between midnight and 8 A.M. on June 3, 1961 at a pool room in Panama City, Florida. The arrest was based entirely on the report of a witness that he had seen Gideon in the pool room at 5:30 A.M. on the night of the crime and that Gideon had a wine bottle and money in his pockets.
Gideon could not afford a lawyer and requested the court to appoint counsel in his defense. However, his request was refused because Florida law allowed courts to appoint counsel for indigent defendants only in death penalty cases. Gideon undertook his own defense and was convicted. He was sentenced to five years in prison, where he crafted his own appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court by using prison writing materials and legal resources. The basis of his appeal was that his Sixth Amendment rights had been violated through the denial of counsel.
Attorneys
- Abe Fortas [plaintiff]
- Abe Krash [plaintiff]
- Bruce Jacob [defendant]
Opinions
Majority
- Hugo Lafayette Black [Author]
- Earl Warren
- William Joseph Brennan, Jr.
- Potter Stewart
- Byron Raymond White
- Arthur Joseph Goldberg
The majority was forced to untangle a pair of clashing precedents. In Powell v. Alabama, the Court had held that indigent defendants had the constitutional right to counsel in capital cases. In Betts v. Brady, by contrast, it had held that defendants in state court did not have a constitutional right to counsel unless the case was especially complicated or there were special circumstances such as illiteracy that would prevent the defendant from making an effective defense. The majority overruled Betts v. Brady, finding that the assistance of counsel was a fundamental right guaranteed by the Sixth Amendment, and thus a defendant who wished to have a lawyer but could not afford a lawyer should have an attorney appointed by the court. Black also squelched any uncertainty about whether Sixth Amendment rights applied to the states, finding that due process concerns and the need for a fair trial were just as applicable at that level as in federal court.
Concurrence
- Tom C. Clark [Author]
Since the Sixth Amendment does not distinguish on its face between capital and non-capital cases, Clark found that there was no reasoning to read that distinction into it and limit Powell v. Alabama to capital cases.
Concurrence
- John Marshall Harlan II [Author]
Criticizing the language about special circumstances in Betts v. Brady, Harlan felt that the existence of any criminal charge in itself was a sufficiently serious circumstance that merited invoking the right to counsel.
Concurrence
- William Orville Douglas [Author]
Case Commentary
The Court would build on this decision in cases such as Miranda v. Arizona, which held in part that defendants have a right to counsel even before a trial begins. Gideon also would lead to the implementation of a vast public defender system at the state level, which has spawned many other concerns such as inadequate funding and training, excessive workloads, and conflicts of interest. However, those flaws should not overshadow the triumph for the rights of criminal defendants marked by this decision.
The ruling on appeal did not mean that Gideon was innocent of the charges but merely granted him the right to a new trial. However, Gideon's lawyer thoroughly discredited the testimony of the prosecution's only witness at the second trial, and he was acquitted after the jury had deliberated for only an hour.
The right to an attorney in criminal proceedings is clearly stated in the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, but the real-world application of this right is quite complicated. Even when a defendant’s right to representation by an attorney seems unquestionable, the issue remains of how to pay for legal services. Courts may appoint an attorney to represent an indigent defendant at public expense. Some jurisdictions have established public defender offices, while others maintain a roster of criminal defense attorneys who will accept court appointments. These programs are frequently underfunded and lacking in resources.
Sixth Amendment Right to Counsel
The right to an attorney has applied in federal prosecutions for most of the nation’s history, but it did not extend to all state-level felony cases, based on the Fourteenth Amendment, until the U.S. Supreme Court decided Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 [1963]. The court later expanded the right to an attorney to state-level misdemeanor cases that carried a substantial risk of jail time, usually at least one year. The right to an attorney, regardless of financial means, is one of the fundamental rights included in the Miranda warnings that police must read to people during or after their arrest.
Defendants who cannot afford legal counsel only have the right to free legal counsel if the charge carries a risk of a jail or prison sentence. Thus, a defendant charged with a minor offense such as a traffic violation will probably not be appointed a public defender.
Inability to Afford Counsel
Regardless of well-established constitutional rights, not everyone can afford an attorney. This issue appears to have gone without notice for much of the nation’s history. The person credited with the first proposed public defender’s office is Clara Shortridge Foltz, who was also the first female attorney on the West Coast. In 1893, she presented model legislation creating a county officer to “defend, without expense to them, all persons who are not financially able to employ counsel and who are charged with the commission of any contempt, misdemeanor, felony or other offense.” The California Legislature finally passed the bill in 1921, and it became known as the “Foltz Defender Bill” in at least 32 other states. Today, the federal government has a public defender program, as do many states and counties.
Right to Public Defender at Trial
The Supreme Court first ruled on the issue of indigent defense in Powell v. Alabama, 287 U.S. 45 [1932], which held, in part, that the state denied the defendants’ due process rights by not providing access to counsel, despite the defendants’ inability to pay legal fees. Since the Gideon decision, the Supreme Court has held that state courts must appoint counsel in misdemeanor cases that carry the possibility of substantial jail or prison sentences. This applies even when the defendant’s specific circumstances carry no actual risk of confinement, such as when a defendant was facing, at worst, a suspended sentence of more than one year. Alabama v. Shelton, 535 U.S. 654 [2002].
Some states provide for partial indigency, meaning that a defendant may be responsible for paying the state or county for only a portion of the court-appointed attorney’s fees.
Right to Public Defender Before Trial
This right to counsel, including appointed counsel, does not apply to witnesses in grand jury proceedings. United States v. Mandujano, 425 U.S. 564 [1976]. The right applies to people in pre-trial matters “from the time of their arraignment until the beginning of their trial.” Brewer v. Williams, 430 U.S. 387, 398 [1977].
Along with the right to silence, the right to counsel affects ongoing police investigations. Once a person’s Sixth Amendment right to counsel has attached, police may not elicit incriminating statements from them. Massiah v. United States, 377 U.S. 201 [1964].
Right to Public Defender After Trial
The Sixth Amendment generally does not include a right to court-appointed counsel in post-conviction proceedings, such as appeals and habeas corpus petitions. The Supreme Court has held that defendants do not have a right to appointed counsel for discretionary appeals. Anders v. California, 368 U.S. 738 [1967]; Smith v. Robbins, 528 U.S. 259 [1999]. The right to appointed counsel only extends to the “first appeal of right,” but not to further collateral attacks on a conviction. Pennsylvania v. Finley, 481 U.S. 551 [1987].
Last reviewed October 2022