On February 10, 1967, the Circuit Court of Cook County in Illinois conducted a preliminary hearing for one John Adams, for the crime of selling heroin to one Albert Bradley.

Adams was not afforded any counsel by the court for that hearing, and subsequently filed a motion to dismiss the charges based upon that fact, which was denied.

Adams' appeal rested on three grounds, the two biggest reasons being that his indictment listed "Al Nichols" as the purchaser when in reality the person was named Albert Bradley, which he claimed, "deprived him of his constitutional right to be informed of the nature of the accusation against him", and that he was not given counsel during the preliminary hearing.

The court reasoned,"[w]e have given complete retroactive effect to the new rule, regardless of good faith reliance by law enforcement authorities or the degree of impact on the administration of justice, where the 'major purpose of new constitutional doctrine is to overcome an aspect of the criminal trial that substantially impairs its truthfinding function and so raises serious questions about the accuracy of guilty verdicts in past trials.

It weighed the possible probabilities of counsel at the fairly early preliminary hearing stage, and ultimately agreed with the Supreme Court of Illinois.