Talk:Public defender/to do

The State of Florida is comprised of twenty judicial circuits. Some circuits have only one county and some have two or more counties. Each of the twenty judicial circuits has a constitutinally elected public defender. Interestingly, this elected office is won through partisan elections, except when it is done by appointment to fill a vacancy. The elected public defenders in Florida serve four year terms.

Florida's Public Defender System was established by legislation. It was established as a direct result of Clarence Gideons triumphant victory in U.S. Supreme Court case of Gideon vs. Wainwright. Clarence Gideon appealed his own case. Poor and uneducated, Gideon won the constitutional right to the assistance of an attorney from the inside of a prison cell for every poor person in this nation accused of a crime.

After this incredible victory in the U.S. Supreme Court, Clarence Gideon was given the right to a second trial. This time, with the help of a trained lawyer, he was found not guilty by a jury of his peers.

My name is Stephen V Watson. I am an assistant public defender in Sarastoa, Florida. I have been an assistant public defender in Florida since 1984.

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