Gideon's Trumpet

Gideon's Trumpet

Introduction

The movie Gideon's trumpet is one of the very few movies that are made on the crucial topic of law and it played the role of a social protest. It is about a man who was not given proper right to counsel when he was facing a trial in the Court. This made him send a petition to the Supreme Court of United States for a re trial. In this second trial, the Jury verdict was that he was not guilty. His case also introduced the Sixth Amendment about right to counsel. According to this Amendment; every criminal defendant has the right to be appointed an attorney to represent him in the Court.

Discussion

Plot of Gideon's Trumpet

Clarance Earl Gideon was an ill tempered and poor man from Florida. He was arrested in 1961 for petty larceny which is an offence according to Florida's Law. He could not afford a lawyer and his request for a lawyer was rejected by the Judiciary. In the end, he represented himself and the verdict was against Gideon. He was imprisoned for five years. The mistreatment by the Florida's judicial system in terms of not being appointed a lawyer to represent Gideon and the five year imprisonment was the violation of the Fourteenth Amendment. It was brought to the attention of the Supreme Court and a decision was made to assure free legal representation of anyone who was accused of committing a crime in America (www.answers.com).

Summary of Gideon's Trumpet

The movie is about Clarance Earl Gideon and the famous court case of Gideon vs. Wainwright. Earl Gideon was accused of breaking in to the poolroom and stealing change from the register, beer, wine, carbonated drink , and cigarettes. A man who was standing outside the pool room said that he had seen Gideon coming out of the pool room with a wine bottle. Later on, when a policeman questioned and arrested Gideon, he was carrying large amount of change in his pockets.

When the day of his trial came, He did not have a lawyer to defend him or represent him in the court. His request to be appointed a lawyer was rejected by the judge. The reason being that it was stated in the Florida Law that in the capitol cases only the defendants will be appointed a lawyer. After the denial of his request for a lawyer, he had no choice but to represent himself in the trial. His effort to defend himself was of no use. He did not succeed in proving that he was not guilty and the judge convicted him. He was sentenced for five year imprisonment because he also had prior convictions. During the time he spent in the prison, he studied law to gain sufficient knowledge to appeal for his conviction. Gideon believed that he had an unconstitutional and unfair trial.

After doing a lot of research, he was able to send an appeal to the Supreme Court. His appeal was reviewed and taken into consideration by the ...