Justice on Trial Season 1 Episode 5 For the Defendant (Gideon v. Wainwright)

Judge Judy Sheindlin and her expert legal team recreate the infamous trials of Clarence Gideon, a Florida man accused in 1963 of burglarizing a pool hall. Forced to represent himself in court due to a Florida law that only the mentally incompetent and those accused of a capital crime can be appointed an attorney, Gideon was found guilty. This sparked a legal battle that changed American judicial system. While in prison, possessing only an 8th grade education, he successfully appealed to the Supreme Court that the 14th Amendment