Editing Sam Sheppard (section)

== First trial ==

=== Media ===
Sheppard's trial began October 18, 1954, and lasted nine weeks.<ref>{{cite news |title=Nowhere to Hide |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |author=Michael Farquhar |date=October 3, 1993 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/1993/10/03/nowhere-to-hide/95842a96-889d-43c4-8cde-d804fed81435/ |accessdate=March 3, 2022}}</ref> 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."{{sfn|Neff|2001|p=230}}

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.{{sfn|Neff|2001|p=85}} 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!"<ref>[http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/gvpt339/sheppard.html The Sam Sheppard Case] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040907234728/http://www.bsos.umd.edu/gvpt/gvpt339/sheppard.html |date=September 7, 2004 }}, umd.edu; accessed April 29, 2017.</ref><ref>{{cite news|work=USA Today|title='Wrong Man' makes case for Sheppard's innocence|date=November 8, 2001|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/books/2001-11-08-wrong-man.htm|access-date=May 23, 2010}}</ref> That night, Sheppard was arrested for a police interrogation.{{sfn|Neff|2001|pp=101–102}}

The local media ran salacious front-page stories inflammatory to Sheppard that contained 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 [[jury sequestration|sequestered]], two of the jurors admitted to the judge that they heard the broadcast but the judge did not dismiss them.{{sfn|Neff|2001|pp=151–152}} 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.{{sfn|Neff|2001|pp=166–168}} The U.S. Supreme Court later stated that the trial was surrounded by a "carnival atmosphere".<ref>[http://caselaw.lp.findlaw.com/cgi-bin/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=384&invol=333 ''Sheppard v. Maxwell''], 384 U.S. 333, 358 (1964) (U.S. Supreme Court)</ref>

===Susan Hayes===
Susan Hayes was a 24-year-old laboratory technician at Bayview Hospital in Bay village, who had an affair with Sheppard.  The prosecution attempted to show that Hayes was the motive for murder.<ref>{{cite news |title=Susan Hayes Admits Love Affair in Trial Testimony |date=December 1, 1954 |work=[[The Columbus Citizen-Journal]] |url=https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1253&context=newspaper_coverage |accessdate=March 3, 2022}}</ref>

===Defense strategy===
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 Charles Elkins 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|date=February 2013}}

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{{who|date=February 2013}} 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.<ref name=cnn>{{cite news|url=http://edition.cnn.com/US/9910/05/sheppard.case|title=Body of Sam Sheppard's wife exhumed in Ohio|date=October 5, 1999|publisher=CNN.com|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20040919212714/http://edition.cnn.com/US/9910/05/sheppard.case|archive-date=September 19, 2004}}</ref> However, 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.<ref>Affidavit of Paul L. Kirk, filed in the Court of Common Pleas, Criminal Branch, No. 64571</ref>

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.

{{blockquote|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.{{sfn|DeSario|Mason|2003|page=345}}}}

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.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas |date=1954-01-01 |title=1954 Trial testimony of Leo Stawicki providing information on the bushy-haired man |url=https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/other_suspects/9 |journal=Other Suspects}}</ref><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas |date=1954-01-01 |title=1954 Trial testimony of Richard Knitter providing information on the bushy-haired man |url=https://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/other_suspects/6 |journal=Other Suspects}}</ref>

===Verdict===
On December 21, after deliberating for four days, the jury found Sheppard guilty of second-degree murder.{{sfn|Warnes|2004|page=252}} He was sentenced to life in prison.{{sfn|DeSario|Mason|2003|page=6}}

===Family deaths===
On January 7, 1955, shortly after his conviction, the incarcerated Sheppard was told that his mother, Ethel Sheppard, had died from a self-inflicted gunshot.{{sfn|Tanay|2011|page=175}} Eleven days later, Sheppard's father, Richard Sheppard, died of a bleeding [[gastric ulcer]] and stomach cancer.{{sfn|Warnes|2004|page=219}} Sheppard was permitted to attend both funerals but was required to wear handcuffs.{{sfn|Perper|Cina|2010|page=38}}

On February 13, 1963, while F. Lee Bailey was pursuing the appeals process, Sheppard's former father-in-law, Thomas S. Reese, died by suicide in an [[East Cleveland, Ohio]], motel.{{sfn|Tanay|2011|page=175}}{{sfn|Warnes|2004|page=220}}<ref>{{cite news|title=Sheppard Tragedy Goes On and On|work=Beatrice Daily Sun|date=February 18, 1963|page=2|url=https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/2145337/|access-date=October 15, 2015}}</ref> Reese's wife had died in 1929 when their daughter Marilyn was in grade school.

===Incarceration===
In 1959, Sheppard voluntarily took part in cancer studies by the [[Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center|Sloan Kettering Institute for Cancer Research]], allowing live cancer cells to be injected into his body.{{sfn|Neff|2001|page=193, 218}}