Everyone should know the story of Clarence Gideon.  Charged with Burglary, he asked for but was denied a lawyer: The Defendant: Your Honor, I said: I request this court to appoint Counsel to represent me in this trial. The Court: Mr. Gideon, I am sorry, but I cannot appoint Counsel to represent you in this case. Under the laws of the state of Florida, the only time the Court can appoint Counsel to represent a Defendant is when that person is charged with a capital offense. I am sorry, but I will have to deny your request to appoint Counsel to represent you in this case. The rest, as they say, is history.  With a self-prepared petition on Florida’s prison paperwork, Gideon brought the Supreme Court to rule that “in our adversary system of criminal justice, any person haled into court, who is too poor to hire a lawyer, cannot be assured a fair trial unless counsel is provided for him.” That was 1963.  This year, for the first time, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court had …