- Fifty years ago, Clarence Earl Gideon was charged with breaking into a pool hall. He could not afford a lawyer to defend him in court, and after a hasty trial, he was convicted. Had Gideon accepted his fate, he'd have been imprisoned for five years. But Gideon did challenge his conviction -all the way to the Supreme Court. The result was the landmark case Gideon v. Wainwright, which guarantees poor defendants the right to counsel in criminal cases. Weaving the story of this iconic case with contemporary portraits of legal injustice, the film DEFENDING GIDEON highlights the importance of a system that guarantees representation for all-and the dire consequences when that system fails.—The Constitution Project
- The United States Supreme Courts landmark decision in Gideon v. Wainwright, on March 18, 1963, inspired hope that the nations criminal justice system would provide equal and just treatment for the poor, along with the rich. Declaring that the Constitution required the government to appoint a lawyer for those who could not otherwise afford one, Gideon laid the groundwork for fairer criminal trials. Yet states continue to fail to provide independent and well-resourced lawyers. The quality of justice in America continues to depend as much on ones bank account as it does on ones guilt or innocence.
Fifty years ago, Clarence Earl Gideon was charged with breaking into a pool hall. He could not afford a lawyer to defend him in court, and after a hasty trial, he was convicted. Had Gideon accepted his fate, hed have been imprisoned for five years. But Gideon did challenge his conviction all the way to the Supreme Court. The result was the landmark case Gideon v. Wainwright, which guarantees poor defendants the right to counsel in criminal cases. Weaving the story of this iconic case with contemporary portraits of legal injustice, the film DEFENDING GIDEON highlights the importance of a system that guarantees representation for alland the dire consequences when that system fails.
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