Shelby StammDr. Jolene BuehrerGSW 11104 April 2014Sam Sheppard caseThere are many crimes that happen daily today. Many crimes are unknown because they are small crimes like someone stealing. With these crimes the media is not that involved. However, that being said, there are crimes being committed that are serious and the media is finding out all about it. A huge crime of the 1950s was the Sam Sheppard case. This was a shocking case which claimed that Dr. Sheppard had killed his wife Marilyn Sheppard in 1954. This is a murder case that will remain unsolved forever. On the morning of July 4, 1954, Marilyn Sheppard was violently beaten in her home in Bay Village, Ohio, on the shores of Lake Erie. She was four months pregnant and had been killed by 35 ferocious blows (Quade). Sam Sheppard was immediately accused of being the victim of this. Sheppard had told investigators he was sleeping downstairs and was awakened by his wife's screams. Sheppard said when he went upstairs and entered the room he was knocked unconscious by the intruder. He denied any involvement and described his battle with the killer as "big-haired" (Linder). After a police investigation, Dr. Sam Sheppard was found guilty of second-degree murder and sentenced to life in prison. With the frenzied media covering him, they were quick to decide that he was the one who committed the murder. This was an unfair trial, it ruined a man's life and gave him no time for a career. With the help of F. Lee Bailey, who spent five years appealing the verdict; all the way to the Supreme Court, which released Sheppard from prison by granting a new trial due to inherently prejudicial publicity (Rompalske 20). Although Sheppard was found not guilty in 1966, his life had been described... middle of paper... and. The flashlight was found in Lake Erie, just a few feet from shore, near the Sheppards' home. Tompkins let jurors know that Eberling killed Marilyn Sheppard or knows who did. Sam Reese Sheppard never gave up on finding out the truth about who killed his mother. Through all the media coverage, Sam Reese Sheppard started having nightmares that his father had been electrocuted and that it was supposed to be by (Quade). He has a sense of guilt that made him decide not to have children because it is difficult for him to keep his life together. There has been a huge change of heart by those who assumed that Dr. Sam Sheppard was guilty. Now people see that he was wrongly convicted. This has led people to believe that the death penalty should not be used. Although the case will likely never be decided, with all the evidence found, Dr. Sam Sheppard should be considered innocent..