Indigent defendants may be denied counsel when prosecuted by a state. (Overruled by Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)) Decided June 1, 1942 (argued 1942). Opinion of the Court: Owen Roberts → go there Dissenting: Black. Overruled by Gideon v. Wainwright (1963)}} → go there Applied: the Sixth Amendment → go there Applied: the Fourteenth Amendment → go there Topic: Right to counsel. Betts v. Brady, 316 U.S. 455 (1942), was a landmark United States Supreme Court case that denied counsel to indigent defendants prosecuted by a state. The reinforcement that such a case is not to be reckoned as denial of fundamental due process was overruled by Gideon v. Wainwright. In the dissent, Justice Hugo Black opined that "A practice cannot be reconciled with 'common and fundamental ideas of fairness and right' which subjects innocent men to increased dangers of conviction merely because of their poverty." Wiki link