Judge Accused of Denying Lawyer to 17 Year-Old Communist
Forrest Bailey, interim Director of the ACLU, accused Magistrate Hulon Capshaw of refusing to allow a lawyer to defend 17 year-old Jeanette Rubin who was on trial for disorderly conduct for distributing Communist Party literature.
Rubin was found guilty and sentenced to two days in jail and a fine of $2.00.
The ACLU’s Bailey asked Chief Magistrate Corrigan to reopen the case, and to consider whether Magistrate Capshaw should be “reprimanded” and “instructed on the rights of defendants.”
Learn more about the history of the ACLU: Samuel Walker, In Defense of American Liberties: A History of the ACLU (1990)
Read about the landmark Gideon case where the Supreme Court ruled that all felony defendants were entitled to an attorney at trial: Anthony Lewis, Gideon’s Trumpet (1964)