10th annual public defenders summit. i'm so excited to be here today. our office has been putting on this summit for the past 10 years. we draw together attorneys, community leaders, non-profit leaders and directors and people committed to improving the criminal justice system. we come together once a year to talk about the issues and problems that we want to solve. this year is a particularly special summit because yesterday marked the 50th an niversary of the supreme court decision. one of the most significant dimensions

our country. on march 16, 1963, the court said you have a right to a lawyer. even though it had been part of the constitution as the #6th amendment for years and years it was not recognized it was a right until they said it was an obligation by the state to provide a lawyer. it never would have happened unless gideon, a drifter who had been involved convicted for robbing a pool hall. at that time unless you were charged with a capital offense, you

would not be given a lawyer. you had to represent yourself. the gideon decision changed that for felony cases and that brought other cases. but this is still a basic right that we are fighting for each and every day there was a new york times article yesterday, it's called the right to council. badly battered add at 50. in miami they handle more than 550,000 cases a year. all of city and county systems that pretty much rely on local funding to provide public defenders. in kentucky, 68 percent of poor

people accused of misdemeanor short up for a court appearance without a lawyer. in 28 counties in florida 77 percent people pled guilty. many after arrest can spend months in jail. this is becoming more and more evident as prosecutors raise the stakes. we have seen more crimes increase in terms of severity. as a result of this more cases are settling through plea bargains but not necessarily because they are guilty but they have no choice. they are often handled by poorly paid inexperienced

lawyers. very rarely are new trials granted. even here in san francisco we have struggled to fill three investigators positions for the last six months and we have hundreds of cases that need the attention of an investigator. so today we are going to study the aftermath of gideon and discuss what has to happen in order to fix it. i want to thank everyone who has made today so possible, all of you for being here. i want to thank or sponsors, kicker and van ness and jim and douglas and maratel and investigations. i would like to thank all the volunteers who made this possible. kathy, angela and everyone else who helped out

today. i want to express my gratitude to the san francisco library for the last ten years and there is san francisco government tv and this is going to be broadcast throughout the year. so thank you. i would like to thank julie tron from the bar association. the bar association has been our partners in terms of providing defense for poor people. in cases where the public defender is not able to provide representation, those cases are handled by the private bar and they are doing an incredible job. so thank you very much for that. i want to thank jose as a who is a public defender and here to celebrate with us. we are going to start today by showing a brief video

explaining the gideon decisions >> take this empty lot. today you would never know it but history was made here. mostly all is gone and so are the people. the principle they left is still standing. it was almost as bad at life. >> it was a constitutional hero, but the cases that come to the court don't come from the winners in society. they come from the losers. clarence gideon was involved in the justice system since he was a kid. he had been getting in

trouble. >> trouble seemed to find gideon. literally small change had gone miss ing from this cigarette machine, maybe $5 total. that's the pool hall there on the bottom. some wine, some beer and a few bottles of coca-cola were gone. the witnesses saw gideon that night with pockets full of change. gideon found himself facing serious time in prison. >> i have no council >> why do you not have council? >> i would like someone to represent me. >> i would have to deny you request to a point you council in this case.

>> gideon,000 this was unfair. >> by asking the court to appoint a lawyer, gideon thought he had the right to counsel. >> this right is a basic right to in in in the constitution because the threat that is presented by imprisonment and even execution is a threat that the government should allow to have. >> gideon had to represent himself because the state of florida denied a lawyer. the entire trial lasted a day before he was found guilty and sentenced to the maximum to 5 years. >> the last days end here walking into prison and doing his time. but this time he went to prison convinced he didn't

belong there and the state of florida didn't give him a fair trial. he did what most people would do with insanitiary and fairy tales. he wrote to the supreme court of the united states. >> the supreme court they have cases brought to the court by people who are too poor who are able to pay for their fees. gideon's was a hand written document online prison stationery. you couldn't imagine a simpler more elementary way to get to the highest court in the land. >> why would the supreme court decide to hear the case of a poor man already in prison. because the constitution allows even a poor man to be heard. lightning strikes from the

ground up. it may have been sparked by gideon but they were on the court's justice ready to catch it. >> he was the most influential person in the courtroom system of all time. people should not be disadvantaged in getting justice because they are poor. the judge was viable for the constitution. it had the best constitution in the world and if we were tolerant it would be all right. on the morning of march 18th, the decision was announced from the supreme court. they said justice black said i have an announcement the decision and opinion of the court gideon against -- vindication for 20 years of dissent from -- against brady. they said we were wrong when we designed it and now we are making it right. >> it was complete. not only

did this belief in the 14th amendment, the court decide d in gideon's favor. this system which he fought for so long in the justice. the decision was law of the land. equal justice under law. >> when a supreme court decided the gideon case, they really brought light to that phrase. it doesn't matter if you are rich, it doesn't matter if you are poor, you get the same equal chance. >> just look at what happened to gideon. the supreme court didn't set gideon free but it gave him a fair trial with a competent attorney. >> not guilty. >> clarence earl gideon was a

free man. the man who won a landmark supreme court case went to live a normal living with a job pumping gas. >> when i read where it says equal justice under law, i'm very inspired by that. i'm very comforted by that. but i know a lot of people are treated unfairly. i see it as something encouraging but i don't see it yet. >> it's written into constitution and established into the goal for society to reach for and live up to. people will fall short, rights can be ignored or even trampled.

with nothing more than a pencil and knowledge. >> if you know your rights you can protect your rights. if you don't know your rights you can't. they will always be there. you can fight for them. that was gideon's story. he knew he had a right that was taken way from him and he fought to get it back. >> if you are wondering how it is they had a televised proceeding of the gideon trial they reenacted it on television and they had gideon and the judges play themselves. now i would like to you meet chris

kearney, he's of the bar association of san francisco and a litigation partner which represents lawyers and accountants. he also represented a friend of mine. i will always be grateful for your work. our justice summit has been made possible by the bar association in san francisco. please join me in welcoming chris to the stage. >> thank you, jeff and great to see so many people here today. as jeff said i'm a partner at van ness and happy to the the president of the bar association this year. it's great to be here on this particular day with a great group of panelist talking about a very important subject. we are also proud at the bar

association to partner with jeff's office to represent indigent clients and very proud of that relationship and committed to it going forward. this summit focused on the an verseey e anniversary of the gideon case. a promise and excitement following the united states supreme court decision has been a road trip marked by stoplight and heavy traffic. it was gideon's mutual trumpet, the new book that talks about the harsh reality of the system