. >> 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,

it began with the 1961 arrest in florida of clarence earle gideon for breaking into a pool hall and stealing money from vending machines. he couldn't afford a trial attorney. that could hope happen in death penalty cases and wound up sentencing gideon five years in prison. he appealed claiming the conviction violated his constitutional rights. the supreme court upheld the claim and in a re-trial with a defense lawyer, gideon walked free thanks to historic decision 50 years ago today. and now you know the news for this monday, march the 18th, 2013. i'm shepard smith. i will see you bright and early in the morning. 4:20 a.m. eastern time. 1:20 a.m. pacific for the inauguration of the pope. i mean,. >> bill: the o'reilly factor is on. tonight: >> my father came from cuba. he had been in prison. he had been tortured in cuba and he came to texas with nothing, with $100 in his underwear didn't speak a word of english. >> senator ted cruz telling the world that america is still the land of opportunity. but that description may be in danger according to the senator. we'll have a special report. >> g

. >> his name is clarence earl gideon. he argued there could be no equal justice where the kind of trial a man gets depends on the amount of money he has. he argued there should not be one kind of justice for the rich, another for the poor. gideon blew one note on his trumpet. he blew it over and over -- a man cannot get a fair trial without a lawyer. and because he would not retreat one wit from that position, this man, clarence gideon, has wrought a profound change in the course of american jurisprudence. >> gideon was a drifter with a criminal record, charged with breaking and entering and robbing a pool hall in florida. denied representation, he defended himself and was sentenced to five years in state prison. from his cell, he exercised his right to petition the supreme court for a fair hearing. when the justices ruled in gideon's favor, hundreds of prisoners who also had been denied their legal rights were freed or given new trials and our current system of public defenders was born. but 50 years later that system is