Gideon decision is focus of Constitution Day lecture
Attorney and Lakeland adjunct law professor Peter Heyne discusses the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision Gideon v. Wainwright for Lakeland’s annual Constitution Day lecture.
Heyne’s recorded talk is available at this link.
This is the 60th anniversary of Gideon v. Wainwright, a case in which the Supreme Court ruled that the Sixth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution requires U.S. states to provide attorneys to criminal defendants who are unable to afford their own.
Heyen will discuss "Gideon at 60," and put a special focus on Wisconsin's forward-looking history of appointing counsel for indigent criminal defendants long before Gideon.
Heyen, who has been practicing law since 2010, ran a private practice for five years throughout northeastern Wisconsin focusing on both trial and appellate litigation, involving criminal and civil and family law. A significant portion of his practice entailed representing indigent criminal defendants and indigent parents in CHIPS/CPS juvenile cases.
Since 2015, he has been an assistant state public defender in the Green Bay trial office. He has presented multiple times on a variety of continuing legal education topics at the annual State Public Defender conference in Milwaukee, and he has published numerous articles in the statewide bar journal “Wisconsin Lawyer.”
He edited a chapter of the most recent edition of the Wisconsin Criminal Defense Manual and co-authored a chapter for a forthcoming State Bar book on courthouse security. Both prior and subsequent to law school, he taught evening classes at Lakeland in Green Bay. He currently teaches business law to both undergraduates and MBA students.
He received undergraduate degrees in classics (Greek) and in drama, and Master of English from the University of Dallas, Texas. He received his Juris Doctor from Marquette University Law School and is admitted to practice in all Wisconsin state courts and the federal United States District Court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
In 2004, a federal law designated September 17, the anniversary of the signing of the Constitution, as Constitution Day and Citizenship Day in the U.S.
