The precedent followed prior to Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 US 335 (1963) was established in Betts v. Brady,316 US 455 (1942), which held the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause didn't require states to provide court-appointed counsel to indigent defendants except in death penalty cases. The Supreme Court reversed this decision in Gideon because access to counsel was necessary to protect a defendant's fundamental constitutional rights.
The US Supreme Court set a precedent requiring states to provide court-appointed counsel to indigent criminal defendants by applying the Sixth Amendment to the states via the Fourteenth Amendment due process clause.
Explanation
The US Supreme Court overturned the earlier decision in Betts v. Brady, 316 US 455 (1942), which held states weren't required to provide court-appointed counsel at trial, and failure to do so didn't violate a defendant's Due Process protection under the Fourteenth Amendment.
In Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 US 335 (1963) the Supreme Court unanimously held that states had to provide free legal counsel to indigent criminal defendants. The Court asserted that poor people were being deprived of their Sixth Amendment constitutional right to an attorney, which applied to the states under the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process Clause. The condition of poverty placed defendants in a position of not receiving the same opportunity for a fair trial (due process) as people who could afford to hire an attorney, which was unconstitutional.
The states have to follow the precedent set in Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 US 335 (1963). The US Supreme Court used the fourteenth Amendment due process clause to incorporate the Sixth Amendment right to counsel to the states. This reversed their earlier decision in Betts v Brady.
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 US 335 (1963)The case was originally called Gideon v. Cochran, but Louie L. Wainwright succeeded Cochran as Secretary to the Florida Department of Corrections before the case was heard in the US Supreme Court.
He is a correction director
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963)
In Gideon v. Wainwright, the Supreme Court ruled that if a defendant cannot afford a lawyer, one must be provided to him or her regardless of the defendant's ability to pay or the importance of the charges.
Gideon v. Wainwright
Florida
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 US 335 (1963)Justice Hugo Black delivered the opinion of the Court.For more information, see Related Questions, below.
Gideon V. Wainwright (A+, Civics)
The Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 US 335 (1963) ensured indigent criminal defendants had access to a court-appoint attorney.
Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 US 335 (1963)Clarence Earl Gideon, a habitual petty criminal, was the petitioner/plaintiff; Louie L. Wainwright, Secretary to the Florida Department of Corrections, was the respondent/defendant. Wainwright's predecessor, H. G. Cochran, Jr., was the original respondent, but vacated office before the case reached the US Supreme Court.For more information, see Related Questions, below.
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