Betts Vs Brady

To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

Background

To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

Betts was a 43 year old unemployed farm hand who was arrested for robbery. During his trial he couldn’t afford a lawyer because he didn’t have the necessary funds. Therefore he argued that the lack of counsel would result in him not having a fair trial. This case ended up all the way in the Supreme Court due to him appealing.

When it comes to defending Betts some justices were on his side. One argument used was that how could the court make it to where an amendment was only used for certain people and certain cases. It would be making it much harder for fair trials to actually occur if people with low incomes were denied a lawyer appointed by the courts

To play, press and hold the enter key. To stop, release the enter key.

When the case was argued in the Supreme Court it was argued that 6th amendment did not necessarily apply to states via the 14th amendment. Also according to the supreme court it was said that if this case had been argued in Federal Court instead of State Court then it could have been able to apply. The court also found that this amendment is to be viewed based on a case to case basis. Not only that but the court argued that if the need of lawyers was that big among people then in could lead to too many expenses.

Majority Decision

Dissenting Decision