What is Gideon v. Wainwright?
{{italic title}} {{SCOTUSCase |Litigants=Gideon v. Wainwright |ArgueDate=January 15 |ArgueYear=1963 |DecideDate=March 18 |DecideYear=1963 |FullName=[[Clarence Earl Gideon|Clarence E. Gideon]] v. [[Louie L. Wainwright]], Corrections Director. |USVol=372 |USPage=335 |Prior=Gideon [[Conviction|convicted]], Bay County, Florida Circuit Court (1961); [[habeas corpus|habeas]] request denied, ''Gideon v. Cochrane'', 135 So. 2d 746 (Fla. 1961) |Subsequent=At 2nd trial, Gideon found not [[guilt (law)|guilty]], 153 So. 2d 299 (Fla. 1963) |Holding=States must assign free [[lawyer]]s to poor [[defendant]]s. The states must follow the [[Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Sixth Amendment's]] right to counsel rule because the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]] requires [[due process]]. |SCOTUS=1962-1965 |OralArgument=http://www.oyez.org/cases/1960-1969/1962/1962_155/argument/ |Majority=Black |JoinMajority=Warren, Brennan, Stewart, White, Goldberg |Concurrence=Clark |Concurrence2=Harlan |Concurrence3=Douglas |LawsApplied=[[Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Sixth]] and [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendments]] |Overturned previous case = ''[[Betts v. Brady]]'' (1942) }} '''''Gideon v. Wainwright''''', {{ussc|372|335|1963}}, is a [[landmark decision|landmark case]] in [[Supreme Court of the United States|United States Supreme Court]] history. The Court decided that if a person is charged with a [[crime]], and they cannot pay for a [[lawyer]], the state has to give them one for free. This case caused the [[public defender]] program to be created in the [[United States]]. (A public defender is a lawyer who defends clients who cannot pay them.) ==Background== Between [[midnight]] and 8:00&nbsp;a.m. on June 3, 1961, someone [[burglary|broke into]] the Bay Harbor Pool Room in [[Panama City, Florida]]. The person broke a door, smashed a [[cigarette]] [[machine]] and a [[vinyl record|record]] player, and [[theft|stole coins