Gideon v Wainwright

Gideon v Wainwright is a 1963 decision of the United States Supreme Court that guaranteed the right to court-appointed counsel for indigent criminal defendants. Clarence Gideon was charged with a felony in Florida and denied a lawyer because Florida law provided appointed counsel only in capital cases, so he defended himself at trial and was convicted, later filing a hand-written petition to the Supreme Court from prison. The Court held unanimously that the Sixth Amendment right to counsel in criminal prosecutions is a fundamental right applicable to the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, meaning states must provide free counsel to felony defendants who cannot afford a lawyer. The decision reshaped American criminal procedure and led directly to the modern system of public defenders.