"Guaranteeing legal representation for all accused criminals doesn't just help the defendant, it gives us better justice and confidence in our government," says federal public defender Martin Sabelli, a lawyer whose job is to defend persons accused of federal crimes.

Sabelli knows firsthand. He has watched opposing counsel -- U.S. attorneys prosecuting his clients on behalf of the Justice Department -- take greater care in preparing cases and treating the accused with fairness and dignity when they know that a skilled lawyer is on the other side.

"When prosecutors faced poor and uneducated defendants in state courts, their cases were not so well prepared because the accused usually did not know the law. By the same token, public defenders work harder knowing that their own presence will cause the prosecutor to work harder," Sabelli observed.

"The result is that the process of discovering the truth is more vigorous and the likelihood of a just verdict more certain," he added.

Among other topics, Sabelli has lectured as a speaker specialist for the U.S. Information Agency on U.S. laws that promise legal defense for every accused person, and other important legal-rights concepts. One of the centerpieces of a recent discussion concerned the right to counsel in a criminal trial.

"This is a relatively new civil right, in the United States, at least at the state level, in the long list of rights that the courts have inferred from the Constitution and have added to those originally written by the framers in the early days of the republic. This one can be traced only to the 1960s and has taken much of the past 30 years to develop effectively," said Sabelli.

A poor and uneducated man in Florida by the name of Clarence Gideon was accused of a minor crime, and appeared in court without money or a lawyer. He asked the court to appoint him a lawyer, but the judge refused because Florida law allowed court-appointed counsel only in cases that could carry the death penalty. Gideon was convicted and sentenced to prison, but appealed his case through the Florida state court system and eventually to the U.S. Supreme Court.

"That alone is a magnificent thing," said Sabelli. "For a poor man with little schooling to have the right to petition the courts all the way to the Supreme Court in Washington for an injustice he suffered tells much about the vital importance of protecting individual liberty in our system of law."

The Supreme Court ruled in a unanimous decision that every criminal defendant in both the federal and state courts has a right to counsel. If he cannot afford one, then the court must appoint one. Under the U.S. system of government, not even the president or the Congress can reduce that right. The ruling is regarded by observers as a landmark in the ongoing refinement and advancement of human rights, Sabelli said.

Gideon was given a lawyer and a new trial in Florida. With the help of his court-appointed counsel, Gideon was found not guilty and was released from prison.

"Gideon led to the development of the office of the Public Defender (P.D.), in the federal court system and in all 50 state systems. Under certain special circumstances the court appoints a lawyer from a private firm to defend an accused person. But the bulk of ordinary indigent defendants get their lawyers from the P.D.," Sabelli said.

An interesting fact is that the P.D. is part of the court itself.

"We are a part of the judiciary, and the judges oversee our operation to ensure proper ethical behavior and good administration," Sabelli pointed out. But no judge can interfere with the privileged relationship between a P.D. lawyer and his client. "We are equal in status as officers of the court as are the prosecutors who work for the federal government and the state governments," Sabelli explained.

The right to counsel is not like other rights afforded to criminal defendants in the United States, Sabelli noted.

"It is the most basic right, because without it the other precious rights could not be guaranteed -- the 4th Amendment right to be free from unreasonable searches and seizures; the 5th Amendment right against double jeopardy and against self-incrimination, and the right to due process; the 6th Amendment right to a speedy public trial, to be allowed to confront witnesses, and to obtain favorable evidence. The right to counsel makes all the other rights possible," he said.

By incorporating the "Gideon right" into a public-defender system, better justice is indeed delivered across the United States, Sabelli concluded.