Our view: Equal Justice--for those who can afford it

"Access to a lawyer, in many instances, is considered a constitutional guarantee, thanks largely to the travails of Clarence Earl Gideon.

A Missouri man who’d faced a few run-ins with the law, Gideon was down on his luck in 1961 when he asked for an attorney to help him defend a felony charge of breaking into a pool hall in Panama City, Florida. A judge refused — that benefit was only provided to murder defendants in Florida at the time — so Gideon represented himself..."

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