Genevieve Beggins
BU301
Professor Francis
11/27/15
Extra Credit Gideons Trumpet Gideon's Trumpet was a very good example of many topics that we have discussed in class. The movie mentioned things such as court room procedures, the concept of due process, the fourteenth amendment, double jeopardy, and it also emphasized the importance of social justice and fairness. Clarence Gideon was accused of robbing a pool room of coins, alcohol and cigarettes. He was taken to court and sentenced to five years in prison. He then went on to argue that his case was unfair due to the fact that it lacked the rule of due process. The movie was an ongoing argument about whether Gideon's first trial was a fair one. In the beginning of the movie Gideon was brought to trial and denied a lawyer because he couldn't afford one. The judges defense was that he couldn't appoint Counsel to represent him in the case because of the 1942 case Betts vs. Brady. This case set a precedent in the state of Florida that the…show more content… He also argued that Gideon had four previous arrests which would lead people to believe that he was guilty in this particular case. Another argument that he made was that this case should not be overruled because there was no historical basis for requiring states to automatically point council in all cases. He argued that the reason for special circumstances was because of illiteracy and youth. Another argument of his was that Florida likes the “special circumstances” rule because it “gives the state freedom in dividing its own rules for criminal procedure”. He ends his argument by asking the judges to consider the fact that there were seven thousand eight hundred convicts in jail and five thousand of those convicts were tried without council and would be eligible for a release if the court decides to overrule Betts vs.