| Venue: | SCOTUS |
| Facts: | Turns out it's a felony to break in to someplace with the intention of committing a misdemeanor. And at this point, there's appointed counsel only for capital cases. |
| Posture: | Guilty at trial, affirmed by FL SC. |
| Issue: | Should Betts v. Brady, holding that states were not required to appoint counsel for felonies, be overruled? |
| Holding: | Yes. Reversed. |
| Rule: | Representation is fundamental and essential to a fair trial. |
| Reasoning: | The state feels it needs lawyers in order to try you, so it stands to reason that you should have one too. |
| Dicta: | Douglas, concurring: incorporated rights are not watered-down versions
of the ones in the bill of rights.
Clark, concurring: the constitution makes no distinction between capital and non-capital crimes. Harlan, concurring: the states have different interests, face different problems, and their actions have different consequences than the federal government; maybe we are painting with too broad a brush here. |