The Right to Counsel: From Gideon V. Wainwright to Gideon’s Trumpet

In 1961, an unemployed drifter named Clarence Earl Gideon was arrested in Florida and charged with burglarizing a pool hall. In court, Gideon asked for a lawyer, since he could not afford one, but he was turned down. Gideon was found guilty and sentenced to five years in prison. Believing the U.S. Constitution was on his side, Gideon took his case all the way to the Supreme Court. Lisa A. Wroble explores the case, its impact on the U.S. legal system, and the movie made about it, Gideon’s Trumpet, starring Henry Fonda.