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I. INTRODUCTION
This Essay is about the trials of Clarence Earl Gideon that took place before and after the decision in Gideon v Wainwright.1 Gideon was convicted of breaking and entering with intent to commit petit larceny in Bay County, Florida. He sought review and won before the United States Supreme Court. The Supreme Court returned his case to Florida where he was acquitted at a second trial.2
Gideon had no counsel at his first trial, but he did have an attorney at the second-Fred Turner, a local criminal defense lawyer and later Circuit Judge. Turner and I met in Panama City, Florida, in 2000, and we formed a friendship that lasted until his death in 2003.3 Turner knew that I planned to write about Gideon and we carried on lengthy discussions on the subject. Turner supplied much of the information that forms the basis for this Essay.
A. THE OFFENSE, ARREST, CHARGE, AND DENIAL OF COUNSEL
On June 3, 1961, at about 5:30 in the morning, a breaking and entering took place at the Bay Harbor Poolroom, in the small community of Bay Harbor, a few miles east of downtown Panama City, Florida. The intruder had smashed a window in the back of the poolroom and used a large garbage can to climb in through the now open window. Once inside, that person drank a number of beers, and broke into the jukebox and the cigarette machine, taking an undetermined amount of cash, all in coins. Some wine was also taken from the premises.
Police arrested Clarence Earl Gideon, who lived in a rooming house across the street from the poolroom, later that morning at a bar in Panama City. He had paid for a number of drinks with change, and had $25.28 with him, all in change, when arrested.4 Prosecutors filed an information against him, charging the offense of breaking and entering of "the Bay Harbor Poolroom, property of Ira Strickland, Jr., lessee, with intent to commit a misdemeanor within said building, to wit, petit larceny . . . ."5 He was arraigned on July 31 without counsel and pled not guilty. The trial was set for August 4.6
The three main participants in both of Gideon's trials were Gideon, Judge Robert...