Sam Sheppard Essay Research Paper The media

Sam Sheppard Essay, Research Paper

The media had to much power and are the ones who put Sam Sheppard in jail in

1954. On the evening of July 3, 1954 Dr. Sam Sheppard and his pregnant wife were

having the neighbors over for drinks. They invited them to thier home witch was on lake

Erie. Sam fell asleep on the couch before the neighbors left. His wife, Marilyn, then let

the neighbors out and went to bed herself around midnight. Sheppard woke up to loud

screams sometime later.

When Sheppard herd the screams he rushed upstairs to his bedroom. He saw a

.white form. standing beside his wife on their bed. Sam then tried to attack the form but

was clubbed on the neck and quickly blacked out. He then herd a noise and went racing

downstairs. He then saw the intruder and chased him out the backdoor and onto the

beach, he noticed the man had busy hair. While he was chasing the intruder he leapt at

him and tackled him from behind. They struggled for a few minutes and then Sheppard

was knocked out again. When he came to he was partially submerged in water, he got up

and staggered back to his house and called for help.(courtroom drama)

Sam called his neighbor Spen Houk, the mayor. The police Dan Sam.s brothers

Richard and Steve were called. His brothers then took him to the hospital. The

newspapers however said that the Sheppards sped him off to the family hospital and kept

him away from the investigation. They did not report however that the police at the scene

had no objections with Sam going to the hospital, or the fact that Sam was questioned

three different times on the day of the murder or that he had a full-scale questioning four

days later with no counsel present. Those facts did not matter, the newspapers were

spreading the idea that Sam Sheppard was rich enough and had enough influence to get

away with murder. (Cooper)

For the next few weeks the papers were crazy with Sheppard stories, they were

accusing him left and right. They were continually pressuring the police. They even called

for an inquest. Also, some of the media speculation was due to the discovery of a canvas

bag at his house that included a watch, a fraternity ring, and a key. This made people

believe that he faked a robbery. Then it was revealed that he was involved with another

women, the media went crazy.(courtroom drama)

On July 30, an article called .Quit stalling – bring him in!. was run by the leading

media hound of Sheppard, Lois B. Seltzer. That night police arrested Sheppard at his

parents home on the charges of murder. Outside of the house was a carnival. When

Sheppard was lead out of the house people started to cheer. The grand jury indicted Sam

on August 17, Dan is trial began a month later. Before the trial even started the judge,

Judge Blythin, told reporters that Sam was .guilty has hell.. Sam Sheppard was blamed

with second degree murder and was sentenced to life in prison on December 21, 1954.

(internet site)

Sheppards attorneys were not even able to get into Sam.s house until after the trial

to collect evidence. Corrigan, Sheppards attorney, hired Dr. Paul Leland Kirk. Kirk was

a nationally known criminologist from the University of California. Kirk turned up lots of

great evidence that proves Sheppards innocence. He determined that the killer was left

handed, and Sam is right handed. He also found a spot of blood that did not belong to

either Sam or Marilyn. .He also said that Sam.s story was consistent with the known

facts, and that the technical evidence presented by the prosecution had been worthless.

But petitions for a new trial on the basis of Dr. Kirk.s findings were turned down by the

courts, as were other appeals over the years..(Bailey)

After Sam.s conviction his mother shot herself and his father died of cancer in less

than a month. He survived in jail by writing to his son, working has a surgeon for limited

pay, letting doctors use him for medical research, participating in athletics and made and

sold religious jewelry. The years in jail were bitter ones for Sam Sheppard, none of the

appeals succeeded. The nations legal system had failed him. He was in jail for a crime he

did not commit, and to boot half of his family was dead because of it, his wife, his mother

and his father. Think about what it must be like to have all the time in the world to think

about something that you did not do, or had no control over.(Cooper)

In August 1961, the young lawyer F. Lee Bailey red the book Sheppard Murder

case by Paul Homes. When Bailey read the book it made him furious at what the state of

Ohio had done to Sam. Bill Corrigna had died the last summer and Sheppard needed a

lawyer. In November 1961 F. Lee Bailey took up the case. In April 1963 the US

supreme court brodened the law of habeas corpus by saying that trial judges were not

guarding the rights of the accused and empowered federal judges to check into every

as

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