Heller v. Connecticut

Citation88 S.Ct. 213,389 U.S. 902,19 L.Ed.2d 218
Decision Date16 October 1967
Docket NumberNo. 115,115
PartiesMark F. HELLER, petitioner, v. CONNECTICUT
CourtUnited States Supreme Court

David M. Reilly, for petitioner.

William I. Mark, for respondent.

Petition for writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court of Connecticut.

Denied.

Mr. Justice FORTAS, with whom Mr. Justice DOUGLAS joins, dissenting from the denial of certiorari.

A policeman saw petitioner seated in an improperly parked car at 1:50 a. m. The policeman spoke to petitioner, but received no reply. He detected a strong odor of alcohol on petitioner's breath. He took petitioner to a nearby police station. Petitioner requested permission to call an attorney. The request was refused. He was questioned, but refused to answer. He said he would answer questions 'if he could call a lawyer.'

According to the police, petitioner was unsteady on his feet and his clothes were disarranged. No medical or chemical test for drunkenness was administered to petitioner or requested by him. Petitioner refused, in the absence of counsel, to submit to the performance tests routinely used by police in such cases.

Petitioner was placed in a cell. He was awakened at 7:05 a. m., signed a form to the effect that he had been warned of his right to counsel, to remain silent and to be free on bail. Ten minutes later, he telephoned his attorney.

Petitioner was thereafter brought to trial before a judge of the Seventh Circuit Court of Connecticut. He was represented by counsel. He demanded and was denied a jury trial. He also asserted that his rights under the Sixth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution had been violated because he was denied counsel at the time of his detention and examination at the police station. These claims were denied, and judgment was entered that defendant was guilty of the crime of being 'found intoxicated.' Gen.Stat.Conn. § 53-246.

The maximum penalty for this offense under Connecticut law is a $20 fine or a jail sentence of 30 days, or both. Petitioner was sentenced to a fine of $20 and a jail sentence of 10 days. Execution of the jail sentence was suspended. On appeal, the judgment was affirmed by the Appellate Division of the Circuit Court of Connecticut, 4 Conn.Cir. 174, 228 A.2d 815, and a petition for certification to the Supreme Court of Connecticut was denied by that court, 226 A.2d 521. A petition for certiorari was duly filed with this Court, limited to the right-to-counsel question.

We should grant the petition. Sharply and clearly it presents the following important questions: (1) Whether a prosecution for being 'found intoxicated,' subjecting the defendant to as much as 30 days imprisonment, is within the category of serious state criminal prosecutions to which the federal constitutional guarantee of assistance of counsel applies, under the decisions of this Court. See Gideon v. Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 (1963); (2) Whether, if the answer to this question is in the...

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16 cases
  • United States v. Alexander, 19757.
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Eighth Circuit
    • May 22, 1970
  • United States v. Jaskiewicz
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Eastern District of Pennsylvania
    • January 17, 1968
  • Rodriguez v. Rosenblatt
    • United States
    • New Jersey Supreme Court
    • May 10, 1971
    ...Court again declined to review lower court holdings that Gideon was inapplicable to petty offenses. Cf. Heller v. Connecticut, 389 U.S. 902, 88 S.Ct. 213, 19 L.Ed.2d 218, 679 (1967). However, it recently granted certiorari to review State ex rel. Argersinger v. Hamilin, 236 So.2d 442 (Fla.1......
  • United States v. Jaskiewicz
    • United States
    • U.S. Court of Appeals — Third Circuit
    • September 28, 1970
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