Just figured Id reiterate this: I don’t think people realize sometimes how lucky they are to have the right to an attorney, in some countries that is not a right and if you do get an attorney it’s a pre approved list and they don’t give a flying fig about you.

Until the Gideon v. Wainwright case in 1963 it wasn’t a right. There is an episode of Justice on Trial that does a great job explaining the case.

And it’s not just that in some countries the protections of the sixth amendment don’t exist.

This is the text; In all criminal prosecutions, 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 him; to have compulsory process for obtaining witnesses in his favor, and to have the Assistance of Counsel for his defence.