In Brady v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1969 that a guilty plea is not invalid simply because it was entered to avoid the possibility of death penalty. The case involved Robert Brady who had pleaded guilty to kidnapping and was sentenced to fifty years imprisonment after his co-defendant received capital punishment at trial. Later, he sought to withdraw his plea arguing that it was coerced by fear of death penalty which violated due process clause under Fifth Amendment as per an earlier ruling (United States v Jackson). However, the court held that a voluntary and intelligent plea cannot be attacked if induced by defendant's desire to limit possible maximum penalty; unless there exists significant evidence indicating innocence or procedural errors affecting substantial rights of accused.

In the dissenting opinion for Brady v. United States, Justice Black argued that a guilty plea is not truly voluntary if it's influenced by fear of a potential death penalty. He believed that any defendant would feel compelled to plead guilty if they knew it could save their life, regardless of actual guilt or innocence. Therefore, he asserted that such pleas should be considered coerced and thus unconstitutional under the Fifth Amendment's protection against self-incrimination. Furthermore, Justice Black disagreed with the majority’s view on harmless error doctrine application in this case; he contended that an unconstitutional law cannot be deemed harmless simply because its existence might have persuaded a defendant to change his plea from not guilty to guilty out of fear for harsher punishment.