THE SHEPPARD MURDER CASE

Hardback. With a Foreword by Erle Stanley Gardner. One of the most controversial murder trials of the 20th century was that of Dr. Sam Sheppard in 1954 at Cleveland, Ohio, for the brutal killing of his young wife. The circumstances leading to his arrest, the publicity given to the case, indeed the trial itself had, to legal experts and laymen alike, imposed a stain upon the principles of American justice. Marilyn Sheppard, who was expecting her second child, was found bludgeoned to death in the bedroom of the beautiful lakeside house in which she lived with her husband and son. Dr. Sam and 'Chip' were in the house, but the boy slept through the night, while Dr. Sheppard could never prove that it was his wife's screams which had awakened him. On the other hand, the story to which Dr. Sheppard stuck, throughout the long and arduous questionings and cross-examinations to which he was subjected after his arrest, was never to be factually disproved. The case for the prosecution was built entirely upon circumstantial evidence, yet although many gaps remained unfilled and many loopholes remained unexplained, the jury brought in a verdict of "guilty" and Judge Blythin passed a sentence of life imprisonment. The author, who was present in the courtroom throughout that trial, has re-examined the details of the murder and the circumstances of the trial; he finds the prisoner "not guilty"; however Dr. Sam remained in jail. With Index. 332pp. 8vo. h/back. From the library of true crime writer, Wilfred Gregg, with his personal b/plate. Lightly browned pp. o/w Vg. in Vg. dw.