Upon an information charging 'Assault to Murder in the First Degree,' petitioner was put to trial, without counsel, before a jury in Florida court, was convicted of 'Assault to Murder in the Second Degree' and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 20 years which he is now serving. No appeal was taken, but within a year from his conviction petitioner filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the Supreme Court of Florida.
In that rather inartfully drawn petition, prepared in the penitentiary, at least the following allegations were made with reasonable clarity: When brought before the court for trial, petitioner, an indigent, ignorant and mentally ill Negro then 29 years of age, advised the court that he was without, and unable to obtain, counsel to conduct his defense and asked that counsel be appointed to represent him. The judge declined to do so, saying (1) '(S)ince this is not a capital offence you are not entitled to a court appointed attorney,' and (2) 'you won't need a Lawyer in this case.' Immediately, a jury was impaneled, the trial began, and petitioner was left to conduct his own defense. But, having 'never before appeared in any court on a felony, and * * * not understand(ing) court procedure or know(ing) how to defend himself,' petitioner was unable effectively to conduct and present his defense, and, in consequence, the court's denial of his request for counsel deprived him of due process of law guaranteed by both the Florida and the United States Constitutions.
The Florida Supreme Court issued a provisional writ of habeas corpus directing respondent to make a proper return. Respondent's return denied that 'petitioner's constitutional right were violated by the court's alleged refusal to appoint counsel in his behalf,' attached a copy of (1) a partial transcript of proceedings at the trial, (2) the judgment of conviction and sentence, and (3) the commitment, and asserted that petitioner was being lawfully imprisoned under the latter document. Finding nothing 'in this record of the trial to show whether or not any request was made of the trial judge to appoint counsel to aid the petitioner in his defense,' and believing 'that the issues were (not) so complex, or (that) the petitioner was (not) so young, ignorant and inexperienced, as to bring into play the exception to the rule requiring appointment of counsel only in capital cases and to require further inquiry into the procedure culminating in his conviction and sentence,' the Florida Supreme Court, without any hearing upon petitioner's allegations, discharged the writ and remanded petitioner to custory. 113 So.2d 381, 382. We granted certiorari to determine whether the allegations in the habeas corpus petition, as supplemented by other portions of the record, are such as entitled him to a full hearing thereon, and, if so and if those allegations be found true, whether petitioner was denied due process of law guaranteed by the Fourteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution. 362 U.S. 910, 80 S.Ct. 662, 4 L.Ed.2d 618.
"Where the gravity of the crime and other factors-such as the age and education of the defendant, the conduct of the court or the prosecuting officials, and the complicated nature of the offense charged and the possible defenses thereto-render criminal proceedings without counsel so apt to result in injustice as to be fundamentally unfair,' the Constitution requires that the accused must have legal assistance at his trial.' Cash v. Culver, 358 U.S. 633, 637, 79 S.Ct. 432, 436, 6 L.Ed.2d 557, and cases cited.
The record shows that petitioner was involved in a minor altercation with the proprietors-two men named Scurry-of what is referred to as a 'jook,' called the 'Blue Chip,' located in the 'colored quarters' of Lake Wales, Florida, during the evening of December 10, 1957, and was ordered to leave the place, which he did. Soon afterward, petitioner, 'without shirt or shoes' and armed with a shotgun, approached the 'Blue Chip' and, although a number of persons, including one of the Scurrys, were standing on the sidewalk, petitioner fired the gun in their direction. Some of the pellets struck the lower legs of four persons, but Scurry was not hit. City police officers immediately arrested petitioner. They stated that, in the course of transporting him to jail, petitioner said that 'he was sorry he shot these other boys, he intended to kill Scurry.' On this premise, petitioner was charged with and tried for 'assault to Murder in the First Degree.'