The Sixth Amendment right to counsel, how it applies to the states per the 14th Amendment, and the Martha Moxley case

The Sixth Amendment right to counsel applies directly to federal criminal cases only. However, due to the incorporation clause of the 14th Amendment, the Sixth Amendment, and the Bill of Rights in general, are also incorporated as to the states. Specifically, the 14th Amendment incorporates the 6th Amenment right to counsel in criminal matters as to the states, but only to *felony* cases, not misdemeanor charges, as per Gideon v Wainwright, 372 U.S. 335 (1963).

An interesting sidebar of the 6th Amendment right to counsel in criminal matters is the long-shot argument of "ineffective assistance of counsel" as a basis for a retrial. In the news just this week, Kennedy cousin Michael Skakel was granted a retrial in Connecticut Superior Court on these grounds. Skakel was convicted in 2002 for the murder of then neighbor Martha Moxley in the mid 1970s.