This year, the American legal community is observing the 50th anniversary of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, a unanimous ruling that defendants in criminal cases have the right to an attorney, regardless of their ability to pay for such representation.
The case involved Clarence Earl Gideon, a Florida prison inmate who had been convicted in 1961 of felony breaking and entering after the trial judge declined to appoint counsel for him. Florida law at the time provided for appointed representation only for capital cases. Gideon was forced to represent himself, and the result was a conviction and five-year prison sentence.
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