We’re fearlessly pursuing justice for those accused of crimes
Asking an attorney to pick their favorite Supreme Court case is a bit like asking them to choose their favorite child. Having a favorite doesn’t necessarily mean you love any of them less. But sometimes there’s a favorite, and it’s not always the one you expect. For criminal defense attorneys, Gideon v. Wainwright will usually rank among the top five favorite cases.
March 18 is national Public Defender Day and particularly significant this year since it marks the 60th anniversary of the landmark Supreme Court decision Gideon v. Wainwright. The case involved Clarence Gideon, who was a poor drifter with an eighthgrade education and a criminal history, charged with burglary. He played an unexpected role in creating the “fundamental and essential” right to an attorney.
While the Gideon decision was an important step toward equal justice, it was a long, difficult and heartbreaking road to get there. For decades prior to the Gideon decision, marginalized communities struggled to access equal justice in the United States, with one of the most egregious examples being the case of the “Scottsboro boys” in 1931. Nine black children were falsely accused of raping two white women on an Alabama train. Their lawyers, both incompetent and unprepared, one the town drunk and the other suffering from senility, rushed through trial, failing to investigate and present critical exonerating evidence including one of the female accusers recanting, admitting that she lied to protect herself from being arrested for vagrancy. Sadly, eight of the nine were sentenced to death, with only the youngest, a 13-year-old, given a life sentence.
Another tragic example of unequal justice in the United States was the case of Jeremiah Reeves, a 16-year-old black grocery delivery worker who was executed in Alabama in 1958 for allegedly raping a white woman. This was at a time when white men in Alabama were rarely prosecuted or even arrested for raping black women. Like the “Scottsboro boys,” Reeves’ case was plagued by questionable evidence and an ineffective lawyer who ignored his repeated denials of wrongdoing. History labels Reeves’ execution as a “tragic and unsavory injustice.”
The Gideon decision didn’t occur in a vacuum. It was against this tumultuous social and political backdrop that the demand for courageous, smart and empathetic advocates started to crystalize in the national consciousness. In the same decade Reeves was executed, television sets were tuning into “The Public Defender,” a show about a heroic defense attorney which closed every episode with a tribute to a real public defender. At news stands in the 1950s, “Public Defender in Action” comic books were selling alongside “Batman” and “Superman.”
It’s also no coincidence that in 1962, a year prior to the Gideon decision, Gregory Peck brilliantly played the noble Atticus Finch, an Alabama defense lawyer defending a black man falsely accused of raping a white woman.
Today, the Kern County Public Defender’s office, representing the overwhelming majority of all people accused of serious crimes, upholds the promise of Gideon by amplifying marginalized and ignored voices, reaching out to communities, and bringing humanity into the system by forcing it to care.
The Kern County Public Defender’s office continued to achieve notable successes in recent months, including securing jury trial acquittals on life charges for clients such as Hernan Alvarado, Santiago Martinez, Rudy Gomez, and Jesse Collins. Also, we fought for the life of David Rogers, a former Kern County Sheriff’s deputy convicted of two counts of murder, reminding jurors on this death penalty case that there’s still something worth saving in this human being.
Reflecting on the 60 years that have passed since the Gideon decision, I’m reminded of Peck’s iconic portrayal of Atticus Finch who said, “the one thing that doesn’t abide by majority rule is a person’s conscience.” The thought resonates strongly with me, particularly as a public defender.
It’s our conscience that drives us to fearlessly pursue justice for those accused of crimes, regardless of public opinion or societal pressure.