The Exoneration Of Sam Sheppard
This criminal’s case sounded just like the movies, a wealthy successful doctor who murdered his wife. But, for Sam Sheppard, this couldn't be further from the truth. On December 21st, 1954, Samuel Holmes Sheppard, a 30yrd physician from Cleveland, Ohio was wrongly convicted for the murder of his beloved pregnant wife, Marilyn Sheppard. Luckily, after serving nearly ten years in prison, Sheppard was exonerated in 1966 when DNA testing on his body occured after his passing. This report will examine the circumstances that led to both the wrongful conviction and the eventual overturning of this conviction.
The brutal murder of Marilyn Sheppard took place in their family home on the shore of Lake Erie, where there 7yrd son was asleep just a few rooms over. Before the murder occured, the couple had had a few neighbours over for dinner and a movie. When the night came to an end Sam had fallen asleep on a daybed in their den, and Marilyn had gone up to their bedroom to sleep. After being awoken by his wifes crys, Sam rushed to their room where he saw a bushy haired man standing beside the bed. Marilyn suffered 35 different wounds, most on her face and head. Unfortunately, the weapon used was never found but was determined to be a knife of some sort due to the wounds. This “bushy haired man” that Sam had claimed to have seen was never found, and once he was exonerated, the case remained unsolved. On July 30th, 1954 Sam Sheppard was arrested and charged with first degree murder. After a 3 day inquest at Normandy High School, Sheppard had refused to take a polygraph test but it was determined that he had lied about not having an affair with a former colleague, Susan Hayes, which was then going to hurt his credibility at trial. During this time, Coroner Gerber's verdict named Sheppard as the murderer.
On October 18, 1954 the trial began. Many incriminating counts of evidence were brought forward. The most incriminating being the delay in reporting the crime. Sheppard's first call after the murder was at 5: 40 A. M, to his friend, Spencer Houk. Autopsy results show the time of the murder had to have been between 3: 00 and 4: 00 A. M. It was said that these couple of hours between the murder and reporting the crime could have given Sheppard time to clean off any blood and fingerprints, hide or destroy his T-shirt, and make the house look like it had been robbed, even though there was no sign of forced entry. Other key evidence that was brought off was Sam's missing shirt that he was wearing that night, as well as blood found on his watch and pants that both matched Marilyns blood type. Due to these incriminating results, Sheppard was convicted of second degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. Sheppard made many attempts for an appeal, but all were denied, until Sheppards forensic expert came with new evidence that the police had left out. Overall, the Supreme Court ruled that the media had created a "carnival atmosphere" of "inherently prejudicial publicity" around the trial. It was also proven that the judge had failed to "control disruptive influences in the courtroom. " Sam Sheppard, who had been found guilty of his wife's murder in his first trial in 1954, was finally exonerated in 1966.
On November 16, 1966 Sam Sheppard was found not guilty and was exonerated. Sheppards forensic expert, Dr. Paul Leland Kirk, started examining the evidence that was collected by the police. He eventually came to the conclusion that the killer was left-handed based on the blood spatter, and it turned out that Sheppard was right-handed. He also determined that the large spot of blood on the closet door that was found did not match Sheppard’s or Marilyn’s blood. 2 days after the murder, Sheppard was examined and an osteopathic doctor who stated that Sheppard had endured a fracture in his vertebra and a bruise on his spinal cord during the attack. This was damage that Sheppard could not have done to himself. After this, Sheppard petitioned for a new trial based on the newly discovered evidence that had been found. Sadly, he was denied on May 9, 1955. Sheppard continuously made multiple appeals and petitions over the next nine years, but they were all denied. Finally, on July 15, 1964, the U. S. District Court of the Southern District of Ohio determined that Sheppard had an unfair trial based on these five separate violations to his constitutional rights;
- the failure to grant a change of venue or a continuance in view of the newspaper publicity before the trial,
- inability of maintaining impartial jurors because of the publicity during the trial;
- failure of the trial judge to disqualify himself although there was uncertainty as to his impartiality;
- improper introduction of lie detector testimony; and
- unauthorized communications to the jury during their deliberations.
The Court stated that even one of these errors would have been enough to reach the decision that an unfair trial had taken place. Once the retrial had occured, the jury began deliberations on November 16, 1966 and returned with a verdict of not guilty on the same day. After spending ten years in prison, Sheppard had a rather hard time rebuilding his life. A year into his freedom he regained his medical license, only to shut down his practice months later after getting sued for malpractice in the death of a patient. He then attempted a career in wrestling as a way to deal with his anger from his past. He went by the name “The Killer”. This career change ended up being short lived as well. After being left with no outlet for his emotions, Sheppard began abusing drugs and alcohol.
Due to these circumstances, he unfortunately passed away at the age of 46 on April 6, 1970 due to liver failure. Sam Sheppard's life was greatly affected by cause of being wrongfully convicted. His son, Sam Reese Sheppard, continued to work on his behalf and carried out a lawsuit after his father's passing, and now helps many others with the same experiences.
