Hendrix v. City of Seattle

(dissenting) — The majority of this court has determined that a young man, charged with an offense *166for which the punishment may mean deprivation of liberty for a year of his life, is not entitled to be represented by counsel unless he can afford to pay the lawyer’s fee. In doing so, it has recognized that, if the defendant were a year or so younger and had been brought before the juvenile court for his offense, he would have been entitled to the appointment of counsel at public expense if he could not afford to pay counsel; and that, if his offense had been of a slightly more serious nature…