History of Right to Counsel

Right to Counsel

· Powell v. Alabama:
a) Court said 14th Amendment rights to due process were violated due to the failure of the trial courts to give reasonable time and opportunity to secure counsel.
b) Established principle that counsel was a fundamental right to due process in some state cases and set out list of special circumstances that could require a state to provide for counsel.

· Johnson v. Zerbst:
a) Court established right of indigent defendants to receive assistance of appointed counsel in all criminal proceedings in federal courts.
b) Assistance of counsel is one of the safeguards of the Sixth Amendment deemed necessary to insure fundamental human rights of life and liberty.

· Betts v. Brady:
a) Court declined to extend the 6th Amendment right to counsel to state felony proceedings. Also stated the 14th Amendment due process doesn’t obligates the States to furnish counsel in any cases, only under certain circumstancesâ...