Gideon v. Wainwright · ¶33

In noncapital cases, the “special circumstances” rule has continued to exist in form while its substance has been substantially and steadily eroded. In the first decade after Betts, there were cases in which the Court found special circumstances to be lacking, but usually by a sharply divided vote. However, no such decision has been cited to us, and I have found none, after Quicksall v. Michigan, 339 U. S. 660, decided in 1950. At the same time, there have been not a few cases in which special circumstances were found in little or nothing more than the “complexity” of the legal questions presented, although those questions were often of only routine difficulty. The Court has come to recognize, in other words, that the mere existence of a serious criminal charge constituted in itself special circumstances requiring the services of counsel at trial. In truth the Betts v. Brady rule is no…

U. S. Reports, bound volume
U. S. Reports, volume 372, at 335 (Library of Congress) · transcription: Caselaw Access Project
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