4 1955 newspapers DR SAM SHEPPARD MURDER TRIAL & the immediate aftermath of his CONVICTION - This murder became the template of the hit 1970's era TV series, "THE FUGITIVE" -  inv # 9S-401

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SEE PHOTO(s) - Lot of four (4) COMPLETE ORIGINAL NEWSPAPERs, the Mobile Register (AL) dated Jan 4, 8, 10, and 11, 1955. This lot of 4 original newspapers contains news from the immediate aftermath of the MURDER TRIAL of DR SAM SHEPPARD and the deaths of his parents shortly after the "Guilty" Verdict. 

Samuel Holmes Sheppard, D.O. (December 29, 1923 – April 6, 1970) was an American neurosurgeon. He was exonerated in 1966, having been convicted of the 1954 murder of his wife, Marilyn Reese Sheppard. The case was controversial from the beginning, with extensive and prolonged nationwide media coverage. The U.S. Supreme Court determined that the "carnival atmosphere" surrounding Sheppard's first trial had made due process impossible; after ten years in prison he was acquitted at a second trial.

On the night of Saturday, July 3, 1954, Sheppard and Marilyn were entertaining neighbors at their lakefront home (demolished in 1993). While they were watching the movie Strange Holiday, Sheppard fell asleep on the daybed in the living room. Marilyn walked the neighbors out.

In the early morning hours of July 4, 1954, Marilyn Sheppard was bludgeoned to death in her bed with an unknown instrument. The bedroom was covered with blood spatter and drops of blood were found on floors throughout the house. Some items from the house, including Sam Sheppard's wristwatch, keychain and key, and fraternity ring, appeared to have been stolen. They were later found in a canvas bag in shrubbery behind the house. According to Sheppard, he was sleeping soundly on a daybed when he heard the cries from his wife. He ran upstairs where he saw a "white biped form" in the bedroom and then he was knocked unconscious. When he awoke, he saw the person downstairs, chased the intruder out of the house down to the beach where they tussled and Sheppard was knocked unconscious again.

At 5:40 am, a neighbor received an urgent phone call from Sheppard who pleaded for him to come to his home. When the neighbor and his wife arrived, Sheppard was found shirtless and his pants were wet with a bloodstain on the knee. Authorities arrived shortly thereafter. Sheppard seemed disoriented and in shock. The family dog was not heard barking to indicate an intruder, and their seven-year-old son, Sam Reese "Chip" Sheppard, was asleep in the adjacent bedroom throughout the incident.

Sheppard's trial began October 18, 1954. The murder investigation and the trial were notable for the extensive publicity. Some newspapers and other media in Ohio were accused of bias against Sheppard and inflammatory coverage of the case, and were criticized for immediately labeling him the only viable suspect. A federal judge later criticized the media, "If ever there was a trial by newspaper, this is a perfect example. And the most insidious example was the Cleveland Press. For some reason that newspaper took upon itself the role of accuser, judge, and jury."

It appeared that the local media influenced the investigators. On July 21, 1954, the Cleveland Press ran a front-page editorial titled "Do It Now, Dr. Gerber" which called for a public inquest. Hours later, Dr. Samuel Gerber, the coroner investigating the murder, announced that he would hold an inquest the next day. The Cleveland Press ran another front-page editorial titled "Why Isn't Sam Sheppard in Jail?" on July 30 which was titled in later editions, "Quit Stalling and Bring Him In!" That night, Sheppard was arrested for a police interrogation.

The local media ran salacious front-page stories inflammatory to Sheppard which had no supporting facts or were later disproved. During the trial, a popular radio show broadcast a report about a New York City woman who claimed to be his mistress and the mother of his illegitimate child. Since the jury was not sequestered, two of the jurors admitted to the judge that they heard the broadcast but the judge did not dismiss them.[10] From interviews with some of the jurors years later, it is likely that jurors were contaminated by the press before the trial and perhaps during it. The U.S. Supreme Court later called the trial a "carnival atmosphere".

The high-profile nature of the case proved to be a boon to lead prosecutor John J. Mahon, who was running for a seat on the Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas as the trial began. Mahon won his seat, and served until his death on January 31, 1962. Prosecutors learned during their investigation and revealed at trial that Sheppard had carried on a three-year-long extramarital affair with Susan Hayes, a nurse at the hospital where Sheppard was employed. The prosecution argued that the affair was Sheppard's motive for killing his wife. Mahon made the most of the case in the absence of any direct evidence against the defendant, other than that he was inside the house when Marilyn Sheppard was killed. Mahon emphasized the inconsistencies in Sam Sheppard's story and that he could not give an accurate description of the intruder in his house.

Other issues brought up at trial involved why there was no sand in his hair when Sheppard claimed to have been sprawled at the beach, and Sheppard's missing T-shirt, which the prosecutor speculated would or should contain some of Sheppard's blood (having been in an alleged struggle with the perpetrator). However, Prosecutor Mahon chose to make these assertions despite no T-shirt ever being found or presented as evidence. Also, part of the prosecution's case centered around (speculative) questions like why a burglar would first take the belongings in the canvas bag, only to later ditch them in bushes outside the Sheppard home. It was under these circumstances that Mahon openly speculated Sheppard had staged the crime scene. Lack of a murder weapon posed problems for the prosecution, but Cuyahoga County Coroner Samuel R. Gerber nearly circumvented this discrepancy by testifying that a blood imprint found on the pillow beneath Marilyn Sheppard's head was made by a "two-blade surgical instrument with teeth at the end of each blade" such as a scalpel. Inexplicably, Sheppard's lawyers left this vague assertion unchallenged. Sheppard's lawyer was denied access to the physical evidence by the judge and therefore could not argue any assertions as to blood droplets, murder weapon marks, blood spatter, physical marks on the body, etc.

Sheppard's attorney, William Corrigan, argued that Sheppard had severe injuries and that these injuries were inflicted by the intruder. Corrigan based his argument on the report made by neurosurgeon Dr. Charles Elkins, M.D., who examined Sheppard and found he had suffered a cervical concussion, nerve injury, many absent or weak reflexes (most notably on the left side of his body), and injury in the region of the second cervical vertebra in the back of the neck. Elkins stated that it was impossible to fake or simulate the missing reflex responses.[citation needed]

The defense further argued the crime scene was extremely bloody, yet the only blood evidence appearing on Sheppard was a bloodstain on his trousers. Corrigan also argued two of Marilyn's teeth had been broken and that the pieces had been pulled from her mouth, suggesting she had possibly bitten her assailant. He told the jury that Sheppard had no open wounds. Some observers have questioned the accuracy of claims that Marilyn Sheppard lost her teeth while biting her attacker, arguing that her missing teeth are more consistent with the severe beating she received to her face and skull.) However, a criminologist Paul L. Kirk later said that if the beating had broken Mrs. Sheppard's teeth, pieces would have been found inside her mouth, and her lips would have been severely damaged, which was not the case.

Sheppard took the stand in his own defense, testifying that he had been sleeping downstairs on a daybed when he awoke to his wife's screams.

I think that she cried or screamed my name once or twice, during which time I ran upstairs, thinking that she might be having a reaction similar to convulsions that she had in the early days of her pregnancy. I charged into our room and saw a form with a light garment, I believe, at that time grappling with something or someone. During this short period I could hear loud moans or groaning sounds and noises. I was struck down. It seems like I was hit from behind somehow but had grappled this individual from in front or generally in front of me. I was apparently knocked out. The next thing I knew, I was gathering my senses while coming to a sitting position next to the bed, my feet toward the hallway. ... I looked at my wife, I believe I took her pulse and felt that she was gone. I believe that I thereafter instinctively or subconsciously ran into my youngster's room next door and somehow determined that he was all right, I am not sure how I determined this. After that, I thought that I heard a noise downstairs, seemingly in the front eastern portion of the house.

Sheppard ran back downstairs and chased what he described as a "bushy-haired intruder" or "form" down to the Lake Erie beach below his home, before being knocked out again. The defense called eighteen character witnesses for Sheppard, and two witnesses who said that they had seen a bushy-haired man near the Sheppard home on the day of the crime.

On December 21, after deliberating for four days, the jury found Sheppard guilty of second-degree murder. He was sentenced to life in prison. On January 7, 1955, shortly after his conviction, Sheppard was told that his mother, Ethel Sheppard, had died from a self-inflicted gunshot. Eleven days later, Sheppard's father, Dr. Richard Sheppard, died of a bleeding gastric ulcer and stomach cancer. Sheppard was permitted to attend both funerals but was required to wear handcuffs.