Gibbs v. Burke

delivéred the opinion of the Court.

This case raises the question whether, under the circumstances of petitioner’s trial for larceny in a state court without counsel, Pennsylvania deprived him of a federal constitutional right protected by the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.

Petitioner, a man in his 'thirties, was arrested in Pennsylvania in 1947 for the larceñy-óf certain clothing and other personal effects allegedly belonging to one James Blades. Upon the return of an indictment he pleaded not guilty, was tried before a jury which found him guilty, and was sentenced to a term…