Heller v. Connecticut
Court refused to review a man’s claim that police denied his request to call a lawyer after arrest, leaving his conviction for being 'found intoxicated' and short sentence in place.
Real-world impact
- Leaves the man's intoxication conviction and sentence in place.
- Leaves unresolved whether arrestees have a right to telephone their lawyer immediately.
- Signals the issue is likely to recur and may prompt future review.
Topics
Summary
Background
A police officer found a man sitting in an improperly parked car at 1:50 a.m., smelled alcohol, and took him to a nearby police station. The man asked to call a lawyer but was refused. He would not answer questions or submit to routine field tests without counsel. He was placed in a cell, awakened at 7:05 a.m., told of his rights, and then telephoned his attorney ten minutes later. He was tried before a judge, denied a jury trial, convicted of being "found intoxicated," fined $20, and given a suspended 10-day jail sentence; state appeals were unsuccessful.
Reasoning
The central issue was whether denying a jailed person the chance to call a lawyer violated the constitutional right to counsel. The Supreme Court declined to hear the case and so left the lower-court judgment intact. In a dissent, Justice Fortas (joined by Justice Douglas) argued the question is important and recurring: whether offenses that can carry jail time require immediate access to a lawyer and whether police may hold a person incommunicado without allowing a call.
Real world impact
Because the Court refused to review the case, this man’s conviction and sentence remain in effect. The broader national question about an arrestee’s immediate right to telephone a lawyer is left unresolved and may come up in future cases.
Dissents or concurrances
Justice Fortas emphasized that a prompt call might have secured medical or chemical testing, summoned a private physician, or notified family; he would have granted review to resolve the issue now.
Opinions in this case
- 1.Opinion 9423578
- 2.Opinion 9423579
- 3.Opinion 107588
Questions, answered
Ask questions about the entire case, including all opinions (majority, concurrences, dissents). Try:
- “What was the Court's main decision and reasoning?”
- “How did the dissenting opinions differ from the majority?”
- “What are the practical implications of this ruling?”