Right to Counsel: Where did it come from?

The right to counsel is as old as the Constitution itself:

In all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to a

speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the State and district

wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have

been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and

cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against

him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor,

and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.

~ Bill of Rights, Sixth Amendment

However, it has not always been afforded to a criminal defendant.  In 1942 the Supreme Court heard the case of an indignant man named Betts.  He had been arrested in Carrol County Maryland and charged with armed robbery.  Betts requested the assistance of legal counsel.  However, the trial judge denied his request for a state provided lawyer.  The presiding judge told Betts that in it is customary to only provide the assistance of counsel to the defendant only in cases of rape and murder.  Betts refused to waive his right to counsel and pled not-guilty.  Forced to act as his own lawyer, at trial Betts found guilty and sentenced to eight years.

Betts appealed his conviction first to the state appeal courts then to the Unites States Supreme Court, BETTS v. BRADY, 316 U.S. 455 (1942)  based on the assertion that he was denied his right to counsel in the trial court.  He asserted  the Fourteenth Amendment guaranteed his right to Due Process both in state and federal courts.  At every level his appeal was denied.  The Supreme Court eventually ruled that the Constitutionally guaranteed right to counsel only applied to federal courts, not state courts.

However, 1963 that the Supreme Court reversed itself.  In a unanimous decision, the Court overturned BETTS.

During the Panama City, Florida trial the defendant, Clarence Earl Gideon, who was charged with breaking into a pool hall, smashing a soda machine and a juke box, and stealing money from a cash register, requested an attorney.  The trial judge denied his request.

“The COURT: Mr. Gideon, I am sorry, but I cannot appoint Counsel to represent you in this case. Under the laws of the State of Florida, the only time the Court can appoint Counsel to represent a Defendant is when that person is charged with a capital offense. I am sorry, but I will have to deny your request to appoint Counsel to defend you in this case.

"The DEFENDANT: The United States Supreme Court says I am entitled to be represented by Counsel."

In GIDEON v. WAINWRIGHT, 372 U.S. 335 (1963), the Supreme Court ruled that the BETTS Court erred when it relied on customary practice to rule that Betts was not entitled to counsel at trial.

“The fact is that in deciding as it did - that [appointment of counsel is not a fundamental right, essential to a fair trial] - the Court in Betts v. Brady made an abrupt break with its own well-considered precedents….”

As a result of the GIDEON ruling, though Gideon himself was not freed, he was granted a new trial, upwards of two thousand defendants convicted at trial without the aid of an attorney were set free.  Upon retrial, Gideon was acquitted of the original charges and set free.  In 1972, Gideon died of cancer.

The GIDEON ruling did more though than guarantee the right to counsel.  Following the decision, Florida required all state trial courts to have a public defender assigned to the court.  Several states followed suit.  It can be said then that the GIDEON ruling also created the public defender system in the states courts systems.