“You have the right to an attorney,” thanks to Clarence Earl Gideon, whose appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court after a 1961 arrest produced a landmark decision that turned 50 today.
A panel of experts met at the state Capitol Monday to discuss Gideon v. Wainwright, what it has meant for the criminal justice system and how “fulfilling the promise of Gideon remains a continuing challenge in juvenile and criminal court,” according to a news release about the panel.
Panelists included Michael Bender, chief justice of the Colorado Supreme Court, former House Speaker Terrance Carroll and Dave Kopel with the Independence Institute.
Gideon, whose request for public legal counsel was denied, faced a five-year prison sentence on charges of stealing $5 in change and a few bottles of beer and soda from a Florida pool hall. He wrote a letter to the Supreme Court.
“”He was retried with the help of competent defense counsel; found not guilty and released from prison two years after of punishment for a crime he did not commit. And the whole course of legal history has been changed,” then Attorney General Robert Kennedy wrote 11 days before his brother, President John F. Kennedy, was assassinated.
Gov. John Hickenlooper on Monday released a proclamation declaring today Clarence Gideon Day in Colorado:
WHEREAS, in 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon, whose request for public legal council was denied, faced a five-year prison sentence on charges of stealing $5 in change and a few bottles of beer and soda from a Florida pool hall; and
Provided to the Denver PostClarence Earl GideonWHEREAS, after the Florida Supreme Court denied his Habeas Corpus petition, Gideon appealed to the United States Supreme Court, which reviewed his case and ruled unanimously in Gideon v. Wainwright on March 18, 1963 that Gideon’s conviction was unconstitutional because Gideon was denied
representation at trial; andWHEREAS, the United States Constitution guarantees, through the Sixth Amendment, the right to counsel for children and adults alike, as essential to Due Process and to a fair trial; and
WHEREAS, upon retrial with public defender representation, Gideon was acquitted on all charges; and
WHEREAS, Gideon’s promise of representation remains unfulfilled in many ways, and indigent defense services across the country are woefully underfunded and understaffed, putting poor people at greater risk of being wrongly convicted; and
WHEREAS, the dedicated members of the Colorado Public Defender system believe that the single overriding objective for the Office of the State Public Defender, which was established in 1970, is to provide zealous and effective representation for indigent individuals who are charged with a crime in Colorado;
Therefore, I, John W. Hickenlooper, Governor of the State of Colorado, do hereby proclaim March 18, 2013, in honor of THE FIFTIETH ANNIVERSARY OF THE GIDEON V. WAINWRIGHT DECISION.
The event at the Capitol was sponsored by Colorado Criminal Defense Bar, the Colorado Juvenile Defender Coalition and the criminal law and juvenile law sections of the Colorado Bar Association.