The decision overruled the precedence from the case of Betts v. Brady and declared that the fourteen amendment obligated the states to follow the sixth amendment. States must provide counsel to indigent defendants as it is a fundamental right and is essential to fair trials as stipulated by the Constitution.
Before Gideon v. Wainwright (1963), Gideon was a criminal, who was too poor to hire a lawyer. Gideon was sentenced to jail, but he appealed to the Supreme Court. The Supreme Court ruled contrary to the Florida court (which ruled that only ones who can pay for a lawyer can have one), that everybody was to be given a lawyer no matter if they can pay or not.
