The Sam Sheppard Mystery: An American Travesty of Justice?

the county coroner, Dr. Samuel Gerber... stated, "It's obvious that the doctor did it." He told detectives to go to the hospital where Sheppard had been taken and get a confession... Gerber finally held an inquest in a school gymnasium. More than two hundred spectators, mostly housewives, filled the seats. They laughed and hooted at testimony and cheered when Gerber had Sheppard's lawyer removed for trying to have the outbursts noted in the record. Gerber questioned Dr. Sam for five hours with no legal counsel present.... Even that was not the end. In the 1990s Sheppard's son, Samuel Reese Sheppard, sued the state of Ohio for his father's wrongful imprisonment. To win his case he had to prove conclusively that Dr. Sam had been innocent. His lawyer marshaled DNA evidence that was suggestive but not decisive. He tried to prove that a window washer who had worked for the Sheppards was the actual slayer. The man had later been convicted of another murder and had been found with two of Marilyn's rings in his possession. But in April 2000 the jury in the civil trial refused to declare Sam Sheppard innocent... Coroner Gerber's initial impulse to "get" Sam Sheppard was reflected in the prosecution of the case through the ensuing decades.

Sheppard’s case stands as an object lesson about the adversarial system of American courtrooms: Once locked into a theory of a crime, prosecutors are sometimes more interested in winning than in achieving justice. Coroner Gerber’s initial impulse to “get” Sam Sheppard was reflected in the prosecution of the case through the ensuing decades.

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Egotist. Wouldn't surprise me if Gerber ended up having an 'illustrious' political career.

DNA Test Absolves Sam Sheppard of Murder, Lawyer Says
Published: March 5, 1998
http://www.nytimes.com/1998/03/05/us/dna-test-absolves-sam-sheppard-of-murder-lawyer-says.html

Son’s Evidence Revives 1950s Sheppard Case
March 18, 1996
http://articles.latimes.com/1996-03-18/news/mn-48408_1_sheppard-case

James Badal tracks Cleveland’s Torso Killer to his lost lair (gallery)
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/07/james_badal_tracks_clevelands.html

James Badal thinks he’s solved the torso murders
http://www.clevelandmagazine.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?sid=E73ABD6180B44874871A91F6BA5C249C&nm=&type=Publishing&mod=Publications%3A%3AArticle&mid=1578600D80804596A222593669321019&tier=4&id=787EFD80E2954205AAD059BA6724F957

Pile of bones: Eliot Ness hunted Cleveland serial killer, but mystery remains
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/justice-story/ness-hunted-cleveland-killer-mystery-remains-article-1.1386136

The Black Dahlia - Unsolved Mysteries Wiki
http://unsolvedmysteries.wikia.com/wiki/The_Black_Dahlia

There is speculatory evidence suggesting Elizabeth might have been a victim of a 1930s Cleveland killer known as the Butcher of Kingsbury... After [allegedly] brutally murdering at least 15 people, all by decapitation, Francis Sweeney walks off scott-free thanks to his first cousin politician Martin Sweeney. He often sent Eliot Ness taunting postcards after he admitted himself to a mental institution, which happened to be exactly the same time the killings abruptly stopped. He mentioned he was travelling in one of his postcards and is thought to be related to dozens of murders in Mississippi, Kentucky and California. One post card he did leave said he was in “sunny California” and “felt bad for operating on his guinea pigs, but science must progress!,” in a gruesome ode to sadistic murder.

Top 10 Criminals That Prove Cleveland is the Serial Killer Capital of America
http://www.toptenz.net/top-10-criminals-that-prove-cleveland-is-the-serial-killer-capital-of-america.php

NOVA Online | Killer’s Trail | Chronology of a Murder
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sheppard/chronology.html
Evidence from blood stains in the Sheppard’s bedroom helped convince Dr. Paul Leland Kirk that a third person was involved.
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/sheppard/images/3044door.jpeg

Sam Sheppard’s murder case files and exhibits are now online
http://www.cleveland.com/metro/index.ssf/2014/07/sam_sheppards_murder_case_file_1.html

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