W. Fred Turner (April 17, 1922 – November 23, 2003) was an American attorney. He was the lawyer who successfully defended
Clarence Earl GideonClarence Earl Gideon was a poor drifter accused in a Florida state court of felony theft. His case resulted in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Gideon v...
in the second trial that was given to him after the
Gideon vs. Wainwright case overturned his conviction. The story behind this famous case was told in Anthony Lewis's 1964 book
Gideon's TrumpetGideon's Trumpet is a 1964 book by Anthony Lewis describing the story behind Gideon v. Wainwright, in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that criminal defendants have the right to an attorney even if they cannot afford it. In 1965, the book won an Edgar Award from the Mystery...
. Discussion of Turner's role is in the Epilogue, pages 234-250.
Turner was born in
MillvilleMillville is an unincorporated community in Bay County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Panama City–Lynn Haven–Panama City Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area....
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
, now part of
Panama CityThe City of Panama City is a city located along U.S. Highway 98 in Bay County, Florida, United States. Between Tallahassee, Florida and Pensacola, Florida it is the largest city between Pensacola and Tallahassee. It is the larger of two principal cities of the Panama City-Lynn Haven, Florida...
.
W. Fred Turner (April 17, 1922 – November 23, 2003) was an American attorney. He was the lawyer who successfully defended
Clarence Earl GideonClarence Earl Gideon was a poor drifter accused in a Florida state court of felony theft. His case resulted in the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Gideon v...
in the second trial that was given to him after the
Gideon vs. Wainwright case overturned his conviction. The story behind this famous case was told in Anthony Lewis's 1964 book
Gideon's TrumpetGideon's Trumpet is a 1964 book by Anthony Lewis describing the story behind Gideon v. Wainwright, in which the Supreme Court of the United States ruled that criminal defendants have the right to an attorney even if they cannot afford it. In 1965, the book won an Edgar Award from the Mystery...
. Discussion of Turner's role is in the Epilogue, pages 234-250.
Turner was born in
MillvilleMillville is an unincorporated community in Bay County, Florida, United States. It is part of the Panama City–Lynn Haven–Panama City Beach Metropolitan Statistical Area....
,
FloridaFlorida is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States, bordering Alabama to the northwest and Georgia to the north. It was the 27th state admitted to the United States...
, now part of
Panama CityThe City of Panama City is a city located along U.S. Highway 98 in Bay County, Florida, United States. Between Tallahassee, Florida and Pensacola, Florida it is the largest city between Pensacola and Tallahassee. It is the larger of two principal cities of the Panama City-Lynn Haven, Florida...
. He joined the military after high school and was involved with the
American Volunteer GroupThe American Volunteer Groups were volunteer air units organized by the United States government to aid the Nationalist government of China against Japan in the Second Sino-Japanese War...
(A.V.G) (also known as the Flying Tigers) during
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
. He rose to the rank of captain before leaving for the
University of FloridaThe University of Florida is a public land-grant, sea-grant, space-grant major research university located on a campus located in Gainesville, Florida, in the United States. The university traces its origins to 1853, and has continuously operated on its present Gainesville campus since the fall...
. He graduated in 1948 and returned to
Bay County, FloridaBay County is a county located in the U.S. state of Florida. The U.S. Census Bureau 2006 estimate for the county is 163,505 . Its county seat is Panama City, Florida....
to practice law.
Gideon's case
Clarence Earl Gideon was a drifter convicted of petty theft from a pool hall; at the trial he was denied a lawyer. His appeal to the
Supreme CourtThe Supreme Court of the United States is the highest judicial body in the United States, and leads the federal judiciary. It consists of the Chief Justice of the United States and eight Associate Justices, who are nominated by the President and confirmed with the "advice and consent" of the Senate...
was accepted, and the decision ordered that lawyers be provided in all criminal cases. Gideon's conviction was not overturned, but he was to be tried again.
Turner was Gideon's lawyer in this second trial. By destroying the credibility of the prosecution's key witness through exposing contradictions with other eyewitnesses and the witness's self-admittedly false statements (such as about his prior criminal record), Turner won an acquittal for Gideon.
Turner and Gideon
Gideon chose Turner to be his lawyer for his second trial. The retrial took place on August 5, 1963, five months after the Supreme Court ruling. Turner, during the trial, picked apart the testimony of eyewitness Henry Cook. The attorney in his opening and closing statements suggested the idea that Cook likely had been a lookout for a group of young men who broke in to steal beer, then grabbed the coins while they were at it. Turner also got an important statement from the cab driver who took Gideon from Bay Harbor, Florida to a bar in Panama City, Florida: Gideon was carrying neither wine, beer nor Coke when he picked him up, even though Cook testified that he watched Gideon walk from the pool hall to the phone, then wait for a cab.
The jury acquitted Gideon after a mere one hour of deliberation.
After Gideon
Turner worked as a private attorney until 1979, when he was elected to circuit judge. At age 70, he retired from the bench in 1991. His wife Helen died in 1997. Turner died at age 81 at his home in Panama City, Florida.
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