What is the legal framework for our decision to grant a defense counsel to an indigent defendant?

Before turning to the merits, we address a threshold issue concerning the legal framework for our decision. In their initial briefing before this court, the parties focused on the scope of the right to counsel secured by the Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution. That amendment, which is binding on the states through the Fourteenth Amendment, gives an indigent defendant facing incarceration the right to court-appointed counsel for his or her defense. ( Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) 372 U.S. 335, 342343, 83 S.Ct. 792, 9 L.Ed.2d 799 ( Gideon ).)