ABSTRACT
The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution states that “in all criminal prosecutions, the accused shall enjoy the right to have the assistance of counsel for his defense.”1 The Supreme Court has said that “of all the rights that an accused person has, the right to be represented by counsel is by far the most pervasive, for it affects his ability to assert any other rights he may have,” United States v. Cronic (1984).2 However, the right did not originally apply to all criminal defendants. Initially the Bill of Rights, which included the first 10 amendments, only applied to the actions of the federal government. However, the Supreme Court decided in Powell v. Alabama (1932)3 that the right to effective assistance of counsel existed for indigent, capital defendants. It was not until about 30 years later, when the Court decided in Gideon v. Wainright (1963),4 that this right automatically applied to all state defendants through the due process clause.
