Potter Stewart

“ The upshot is that a person with sufficient funds can appeal as of right to the Supreme Court of Indiana from the denial of a writ of error coram nobis, but an indigent can, at the will of the Public Defender, be entirely cut off from any appeal at all. ”

“ In the administration of its criminal law, Indiana seems to have long pursued a conspicuously enlightened policy in the quest for equal justice to the destitute, and it is not without irony that the constitutional problem in this case stems from legislation evidently enacted to enlarge that State's existing system of aid to the indigent. For more than a hundred years the Indiana Constitution has guaranteed the assistance of counsel to every defendant in a criminal trial. ”

“ This right has been extended to include the right of an indigent to consult with a lawyer prior to arraignment, [2] as well as the right to be represented by counsel on appeal from a criminal conviction. [3] It has also been established for more than a century in Indiana that a poor person appealing a criminal conviction may secure a transcript of the trial record without cost. [4] In 1945 the Indiana Legislature enacted the so-called Public Defender Act, a law to deal with the problem of providing legal assistance to indigent prisoners in postconviction proceedings. ”