The Case of Dr. Samuel Sheppard

Dr. Steve was the first witness when the defense began its case on Dec. 2. He took exception to Dr. Hexter's diagnosis of his brother's injuries as minor. He told of seeing a cigarette floating in an upstairs toilet.

Since the Sheppards did not smoke, he took that as evidence of an intruder. Later the cigarette had gone — an indication of police incompetence. He described Sam and Marilyn as happy in the weeks before the murder and said his brother never had fits of temper.

Steve's wife, Betty, testified that Sam and Marilyn were a happy couple.

Dr. Richard backed Dr. Steve's contention that Marilyn's body had been moved before the pictures shown to the jury were taken. He denied emphatically Mayor Houk's testimony that on the murder morning he had asked his brother, "Sam, did you do this?" He said, "I could not have because it never entered my mind that my brother could have killed his wife."

Corrigan then called two hospital technicians and an x-ray technician who testified to Dr. Sam's bruises and disorientation when he was brought to the hospital. The x-ray technician said he couldn't open his mouth to drink water because of the pain.

Sheppard in the hospital
(CORBIS)

A radiologist and an ear, nose and throat specialist from the hospital testified about Dr. Sam's injuries, as did a dentist. They said he had suffered a fractured cervical vertebra, a swelling at the base of his skull and chipped teeth.

Dr. Charles Elkins, an M.D. who had been chief neurologist at Cleveland's noted City Hospital, testified Dr. Steve had asked him to examine Dr. Sam as an outside expert. He testified to the absence of reflexes and to neck spasms, which he said could not be simulated as evidence he had suffered a spinal cord injury.

Finally, Dr. Sam took the stand. He said he and his wife had never talked about divorce. Then he told the jury first hand about the events of the night of July 3-4. He told how after his arrest police tried for days to frighten or trick him into confessing.

On cross-examination Mahon got him to admit driving with one of his woman patients to a park where they sat in the car and kissed. He admitted going swimming with a woman in Los Angeles and visiting her in her home. He admitted having sex with Susan Hayes over a two-year period. But he vigorously denied killing his wife and injuring himself to establish an alibi.

"That's absolutely untrue, sir, and I think it's very unfair, he said.

Two separate witnesses testified they had seen a man with a white shirt and bushy hair near the Sheppard home, but admitted they did not report it till after they read of Sheppard's $10,000 reward offer. Other witnesses testified that Sam was a man of good character and his marriage was happy.

Bay Village Sergeant Jay Hubach, called as a rebuttal witness by the prosecution, helped the defense by confirming Dr. Steve's contention that there had been a cigarette in a toilet but it was gone later.

The judge gave each side five hours for summation. Parrino demanded to know "Where was the defendant, what was he doing, during two ... long ... hours?"

And he said, "If the burglar was in that room and took the time and trouble to strike all those vicious blows on Marilyn, I ask you why the assailant did not use that same instrument, not to hit Sam 35 times, but to strike one single blow against him. A burglar does not want to leave a living witness at the scene of a crime."

Mahon made much of the bloody pillowcase. And, sarcastically, he told the jury "Be fair to the defendant. Show him the same mercy he showed his victim."

Corrigan told the jury: "The fact that Sam Sheppard strayed is no proof that he did not love his wife, his child and his home."

He was bitter about the media coverage and the "trial by newspaper," adding "If you read a story like this about the People's Court in China or behind the Iron Curtain it would raise your hair on your head. But this is something that happened in our own city of Cleveland."

Corrigan charged that Schottke had decided Sam was guilty after spending "two or three minutes in the bedroom of Marilyn and about 45 minutes around the home of Sam Sheppard. ... Can you, on that type of evidence, take away his life? Can you, on that type of evidence, take away his freedom?"

The judge read his charge to the jury, which, for the first time, was to be sequestered in a downtown hotel. And, after six weeks of testimony, the trial was over.