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Betts v. Brady
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Betts v. Brady (1942)
Background info
Summary
Constitutional question
Years later in 1963, the court case Gideon v. Wainwright reversed Betts v. Brady and requiring that counsel be provided for all indigent defendants in criminal trials.
Did the 14th Amendment incorporate the 6th Amendment right to representation by counsel, and the 5th Amendment right to due process, to all State courts in every case?
A man named Betts was accused of robbery in the circuit court and asked to be appointed a lawyer due to the fact he was unable to afford one himself. Since the case wasn't dealing with murder or rape charges, the judge refused to do so. Despite his situation, Betts attempted to prove his innocence independently but still was found guilty and sent to prison for 8 years. Betts then appealed his conviction due to the fact he was denied his right to counsel under the 6th Amendment, and his right to due process under the 5th Amendment.
The case ended in a 6-3 majority opinion in favor of Brady. They concluded poor defendants only need to be provided with a lawyer under special circumstances. The decision accepted the part of the Court’s ruling in Betts which stated that the parts of the Bill of Rights that are “fundamental and essential to a fair trial” are made binding on the states by the Due Process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. However, they noted that “the Court in Betts was wrong … in concluding that the Sixth Amendment’s guarantee of counsel was not one of these fundamental rights.”