A new doc­u­men­tary released by the Constitution Project and the New Media Advocacy Project com­mem­o­rates the 50th anniver­sary of the Supreme Court’s land­mark 1963 deci­sion in Gideon v. Wainwright, requir­ing states to appoint lawyers for indi­gent defen­dants in crim­i­nal cas­es. Prior to this deci­sion, some states only pro­vid­ed attor­neys in cas­es with spe­cial cir­cum­stances, like death penal­ty cas­es. Defending Gideon is nar­rat­ed by Martin Sheen and includes inter­views with nation­al experts, includ­ing for­mer Vice-President Walter Mondale, for­mer N.Y. Times reporter Anthony Lewis, and death-penal­ty attor­ney Bryan Stevenson. Clarence Gideon was con­vict­ed, with­out an attor­ney, of break­ing into a pool hall in Florida and steal­ing mon­ey. When he was retried with legal coun­sel, he was acquit­ted. The video under­scores the impor­tance of guar­an­tee­ing effec­tive rep­re­sen­ta­tion, espe­cial­ly if a per­son­’s life is at stake.

(“Defending Gideon,” Constitution Project & New Media Advocacy Project, released Mar. 18, 2013). See Representation and U.S. Supreme Court. See DPIC’s mul­ti­me­dia resources.

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