Brady v. United States
United States Supreme Court
397 U.S. 742 (1970)
- Written by Sarah Venti, JD
Facts
Brady (defendant) was charged with kidnapping in violation of 18 U.S.C. § 1201(a) and faced the possibility of the death penalty if convicted by a jury. After learning that his codefendant might testify against him, Brady changed his previous plea of not guilty to guilty. Brady’s plea was accepted by the trial judge after the judge questioned Brady twice as to the voluntariness of his plea. Brady was sentenced to 50 years’ imprisonment, later reduced to 30 years, and thereafter sought postconviction relief claiming that his plea was not voluntary because he faced the death penalty if he exercised his right to a jury trial. The lower courts denied Brady’s requested relief, and the United States Supreme Court granted certiorari to review.
Rule of Law
Issue
Holding and Reasoning (White, J.)
What to do next…
Here's why 821,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
- Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 989 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
- The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
- Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
- Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.
