PANAMA CITY, Fla. - W. Fred Turner, the attorney who successfully defended Clarence Earl Gideon in a retrial mandated by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1963, has died. He was 81.
The case began at a pool hall in 1961 when a patron told police he saw Gideon, then 50, steal change and cases of beer, wine and soft drinks before leaving in a cab. Gideon repeatedly asked for a court-appointed attorney, but a judge denied his request.
In 1962 Gideon, imprisoned at Raiford, sent a petition written in pencil on lined paper to the Supreme Court, again saying he should have had a court-appointed lawyer. The justices agreed, ruling in Gideon vs. Wainwright that criminal defendants are entitled to legal representation even if they cannot afford a lawyer.
The case resulted in the creation of public defender systems across the nation.
Mr. Turner won an easy acquittal in the second trial. He asked jurors how Gideon could have made off with several cases of drinks when the cabdriver testified he had nothing with him.
Mr. Turner, born in Millville, joined the military after high school, was a World War II veteran and rose to the rank of captain before leaving for the University of Florida. He graduated in 1948 and returned to Bay County to practice law. He was elected circuit judge in 1979. He retired from the bench in 1991 at age 70.
