Gideon Vs. Wainwright Essay -- essays research papers

United States tyrannical court of law cases are argued and decided on temperal grounds. All arguments and ends are based on interpretations of the original Constitution and, more often, on Constitutional amendments.GIDEON v. WAINWRIGHTIn June 1961, Clarence Gideon was arrested and charged with happy chance and entering in Bay Harbor. He was tried in a Florida Circuit Court in August 1961. Gideon stated in Court that he was unable to afford a lawyer and asked the Judge to found one for him. The Judge said he was sorry but he could non do that, because the laws of Florida called for appointment of counsel only when a defendant was charged with a capital offense where the death penalty mightiness be imposed. When the Florida courts denied his claim, he went to the Supreme Court. In his prison he submitted a petition, handwritten in pencil, arguing that Florida had ignored a rule situated down by the Supreme Court that all citizens tried for a felony crime should have aid of c ounsel. Oral arguments were heard on January 15,1962 and the decision was announced on March 18, 1963.However, Gideon was wrong. The rule applied by the Supreme Court at that time was in fact exactly the opposite. The Constitution, it had held, did not guarantee free counsel to all felony defendants that are unable to obligate their own. Since1942, when Betts v. Brady was decided by a divided Court, the problem of defend...