sixth amendment-law for trials of the accused’s
DESCRIPTION
Every citizen of the US has the equal right to defend themselves. The accused has the same privilege under the 6th amendment of the Bill of Rights. The Amendment states ‘ The accused shall enjoy the right to a speedy and public trial, by an impartial jury of the state and district wherein the crime shall have been committed, which district shall have been previously ascertained by law, and to be informed of the nature and cause of the accusation; to be confronted with the witnesses against; to have a compulsory process of obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defense.TRANSCRIPT
SIXTHAMENDMENT: LAW
FOR TRIALS OFTHE ACCUSED’S
The Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution wasratified on 15th December 1791 and is one among theten Bill of Rights. The amendment was made with theintent of saving the rights of the accused and giving afair chance or trial to the defendants. The 6th amendment simplified the rights of theaccused under the court of law and it made laws thatmight help in fair and just decisions.
In all the criminal proceeding trials, the accused willhave the right to speedy as well as a public trial,this is the reason the 6th amendment is alsoreferred to as the speedy trial amendment. Thespeedy trial law was made to reduce the number ofdays spent in jail before trial, it gave the right to theaccused to have legal proceedings done quickly, sothat it may not affect the life of the accused if notfound guilty.
The 6th amendment also gives the right to a publictrial, though the court has the right to limit access incertain cases. Right to public trial prohibited the secretto closed trial that is without the involvement of thepublic and to has assured that the decision is notbased on biases or any prejudice. But the accused havethe right to ask for a close trial on the basis that thepublic trial may act as a hindrance in the fair decision.
What are the Sixth Amendment Rights?
The rights included under the 6thamendment for the accused are:
In the criminal proceedings, the accused will havethe right to an impartial jury. The sixth amendmentsimplified that the trial proceeding will be done bythe involvement of an impartial jury of the state inwhich the crime was committed. The law made morepossibilities of having fair decisions.The sixth amendment rights also included the rightto be informed of the nature and cause of theaccusation, that is before the accusation, theaccused shall be informed by notice for the chargeand other details of the charge.the 6th amendment simplified the right to confrontwitnesses against him, in which the accused willhave the right to ask or cross-question thewitnesses.The Sixth amendment rights included the right tohave the assistance of Counsel, in which thedefendant will be given the right to have anattorney to present the case and defend, and if thedefendant is unable to hire an attorney then thecourt appoints an attorney for the defendant.The amendment gave the right to call the witness,that is the defendant has the right to call a witnessin his/her favor.
Gideon v. Wainwright is the case of 1963 in which thesupreme court found that the sixth amendment rightwas violated, as Gideon was not given an attorney todefend the case.
In 1961, Clarence Earl Gideon was charged with afelony (under Florida Law) for entering the Panama cityhall to steal money from the vending machine. Gideonappeared in the district court without an attorney andrequested the court to appoint an attorney for him, butthe court denied his request as under the Florida statelaw an attorney is appointed only for capital cases.Gideon represented himself in the court andrepresented his case by himself but the court foundthat Gideon was guilty and thus he was punished for 5years in prison.Gideon filed a habeas corpus in Florida Supreme Court,stating that the district court of Florida violated hisconstitutional right of the 6th amendment, that is, tobe represented in the court. The Florida Supreme Courtdenied Gideon’s petition of the habeas corpus relief.Then finally Gideon filed a handwritten petition in thesupreme court of the United States. The supreme courtdecided to get it cleared that whether theconstitutional right of Gideon was violated or not, andthen decided to hear the case.
Case Study of Gideon v. Wainwright (1963):
Facts of the Case:
The opinion of the Supreme Court of the UnitedStates, authored by Justice Hugo L. Black stated thatthe right to have an attorney was a constitutionalright mentioned in the 6th amendment. SinceGideon was not given an attorney to represent hiscase, the conviction of Gideon was overturned.
The Sixth amendment rights to the U.S constitutionmention all the rights that an accused must-haveduring the trial process, ensuring that there may not beany type of biases or prejudices in the decision.
Supreme Court Ruling: