Gideon’s Trumpet
On the morning of January 8th 1962, the Supreme Court received mail from prisoner 003826 of Florida State Prison, also known as Clarence Earl Gideon. In the envelope contained a hand written letter with questionable grammar from Gideon claiming that he was denied a fair trial due to the absence of a lawyer. Gideon’s writ of certiorari was an in forma pauperis petition or pauper’s petition. Due to the fact that most paupers’ petitions are from inmates who do not have the legal means to properly file a certiorari, the Court had special methods of handling cases such as Gideon’s. Paupers’ petitions according to Justice Frankfurter were “almost unintelligible and certainly do not present a clear statement of issues necessary for our understanding”(Lewis 35). It is reasonable to assume that the Court would not spend an exorbitant amount of time going through mounds of paupers’ petitions trying to find a case that seemed presentable. Statistically, about thirteen percent of petitions for certiorari on the regular docket are paupers’ petitions. In addition, only three percent of paupers’ petitions end up being granted. Nevertheless, Gideon’s case was treated just as equally as any other in forma pauperis case. Gideon’s handwritten documents were held for a month until Florida authorities replied to petition. A month passed by and Gideon’s petition was mailed to the office of Chief Justice Earl Warren in 1962. A conference was held in June to discuss whether or not Gideon’s petition should be granted. Gideon’s case was granted three days after the conference and from that day forward Gideon’s fight for justice would ensue. In the eyes of Gideon, an attorney was a fundamental right of due process. However, his biggest ch...
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...ntil attorneys ensure justice for each case of the poor and vulnerable. Until then, the fundamental and essential right to fairness and justice established by Gideon v. Wainwright will continue to be questioned.
Works Cited
Citations
Lewis, Anthony. Gideon's Trumpet. New York: Random House, 1964. Print.
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"Overloaded Public Defense Systems Result in More Prison Time, Less Justice." — Justice Policy Institute. N.p., n.d. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.
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Pagan writes a captivating story mingled with the challenges of the Eastern Shore legal system. This book gives a complete explanation backed up by research and similar cases as evidence of the ever-changing legal system. It should be a required reading for a history or law student.
The book raises the importance of, and questions, the writ of habeas corpus. Carter used a writ of habeas corpus to get a federal trial. Many question the legality of Carter going into federal jurisdiction, when his case should have been heard before the Supreme Court of New Jersey. It was a gamble, but the federal judge gave fair justice to Carter and Artis. The State of New Jersey appealed the case all the way to the United States Supreme Court, which upheld the District Court’s ruling.
In Gideon's Trumpet Anthony Lewis documents Clarence Earl Gideon's struggle for a lawyer, during an era where it was not necessary in the due process to appoint an attorney to those convicted.
The purpose of this paper is to discuss how Chief Justice John Marshall affected the American Judicial System. The reader will therefore first find a brief biography of John Marshall. Then the paper will explain in detail the origins of the Judicial Power to subsequently...
Anthony Lewis’ Gideon’s Trumpet is a triumphant story about how one man can make a change. It is the story of Clarence Earl Gideon’s fight for the right to legal counsel. Published in 1964, the work serves to demonstrate how much power the people have when they know the law. The book goes through, in detail, Gideon’s appeal to the Supreme Court in order to gain his right to counsel when he could not afford one. Lewis also does a thorough job of explaining judicial processes and landmark court cases that surrounding Gideon v. Wainwright. Gideon’s Trumpet does an excellent job at explaining judicial jargon in laymen’s terms, as language of the supreme court is not something every person uses often. This allows readers to better connect with Gideon
For more than a dozen years, Clarence Earl Gideon lay buried in a nondescript, unmarked grave in Hannibal, Missouri. Most Americans outside of the legal community (and many within it) would neither recognize Gideon's name, nor understand the seismic impact he had on our legal system. Fortunately, Anthony Lewis, the renowned journalist now retired from The New York Times, chronicled Gideon's saga from the filing of his hand-written petition for writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court to the momentous decision of March 18, 1963. Lewis brings to life the story of the man behind the case, the legal machinations of the court appointed lawyer (and others working with him) toiling on Gideon's behalf and the inner-workings of the Supreme Court. By telling the story, Lewis has preserved an important piece of legal and social history and we are all the richer for his doing so.
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 retain their own. Since1942, when Betts v. Brady was decided by a divided Court, the problem of defend...
He requested that the court appoint him counsel in which he was denied due to the state of Florida only appointing counsel to indigent individuals being charged with capital offenses or individuals who were illiterate. With no knowledge or experience in criminal law, Clarence Gideon was forced to defend himself against the court’s prosecutor.
Remy, Richard C., Gary E. Clayton, and John J. Patrick. "Supreme Court Cases." Civics Today. Columbus, Ohio: Glencoe, 2008. 796. Print.
The American Court System is an important part of American history and one of the many assets that makes America stand out from other countries. It thrives for justice through its structured and organized court systems. The structures and organizations are widely influenced by both the State and U.S Constitution. The courts have important characters that used their knowledge and roles to aim for equality and justice. These court systems have been influenced since the beginning of the United State of America. Today, these systems and law continue to change and adapt in order to keep and protect the peoples’ rights.
“Most Supreme Court Cases regarding criminal justice try to strike a balance between the rights of the individual and the rights of the society. The Supreme Court has the difficult task of bringing balance between these two often conflicting goals.” (POLICE, 2011, p.181).
Wainwright also hindered federalism because it gave more rights to the individual people rather than the state government. After the Gideon v. Wainwright decision, Tobias Simon, a lawyer from the Florida Civil Liberties Union that offered to represent Gideon the second time the case was tried, reflected on the fact that “‘in the future, the name “Gideon” will stand for the great principle that the poor are entitled to the same type of justice as are those who are able to afford counsel’” (Lewis 239). Rather than before where the states decided what an accused person’s fate is when deciding if he or she should have a counsel, the power is shifted to the individual: it is his or her decision if he or she wants a lawyer. Furthermore, it is guaranteed to every individual, regardless of identity. Because “the poorest and least powerful of men--a convict with not even a friend to visit him in prison-- can take his cause to the highest court in the land and bring about a fundamental change in the law”, the state courts’ authority to determine right from wrong is diminished because any individual can fight it by bringing it to the Supreme Court’s attention, just like Clarence Earl Gideon did (Lewis 218). Every individual now has the power to address a problem created by the courts and the power to determine if they want a lawyer to help them, which, in turn,
Mr Justice Wilson, ‘Lectures on Advocacy and Ethics in the Supreme Court’ (1979) 15 Legal Research Foundation Inc.
Oct 1993. Retrieved November 18, 2010. Vol. 79. 134 pages (Document ID: 0747-0088) Published by American Bar Association
The 6th amendement of the U.S. Constituion gurantees the acussed the right to a speedy trial. In New York more specifically, the prosecution must be ready for trial on all felonies except murder within six months, or the charges aginst a defendant can be dissmissed. However, an article written in The New Yorker by Jennifer Gonnerman about a young man named Kalief Browder, sheds light on a situation that is should have been handled more differently. Kalief browder spend three years on Rikers Island in what could only be described as horrible conditions, and suffered appalling violence, without ever being convicted of a crime. The failure of our Criminal Justice System not only deprived Kalief Browder the right to a speedy trial, but also robbed such a young man of an education, and most importantly his freedom. - Thesis Statement .