Interview of Gregg McCrary

In 2003, Bill Mason published his own version of the case with co-writer Jack DiPisario, Dr. Sam Sheppard on Trial: The Prosecutors and Marilyn Sheppard.� They offer a step-by-step account, along with supporting documents, of how they showed that Terry Gilberts defense had no solid basis in fact.� Included is the line-by-line cross-examination of Sam Sheppards original testimony. � McCrary has read this and endorses it as an accurate rendering of what he observed.

Nevertheless, he believes that even the results of this trial will not close the case.� There are still people who wont want to believe that Sam did it.� Theyll hook onto any other suspect who comes alonganybody but Sam.� This is a case that will never be resolved to everyones satisfaction, because theres always going to be some ambiguity.� For example, some people put a lot of stock into the evidence of a pry mark on the cellar, but the problem with that theory is that its just a root cellar.� It doesnt go upstairs.

What makes a case like this endure is a confluence of things: the fact that it was taken to the Supreme Court, and the legal community still cites it when talking about prejudicial publicity.�� It involved colorful characters like F. Lee Bailey, who fresh out of law school picked up the case.� Hes a larger-than-life character attached to it.� Then youve got the popular television series, The Fugitive, that was spun off it.� Add to that the plethora of books about it.� But also, everyone loves a mysteryis there really some bushy-haired stranger?� Its a case about the boogey man.

Were back to the idea that we want murderers to be monsters.� Its a cultural bias.� The person who would bludgeon Marilyn to death in such a brutal manner must be a monster.� Were uncomfortable with the idea that it could be a young, handsome doctor.� That discomfort fuels the fire in the hunt for the true offender.� Then you have Sam Reese Sheppard beating the drum about this for a long period of time.� Its not going away.

But the courts are making it difficult for him to continue to use legal channels.� On February 2002, a three-judge panel, the Eighth District Court of Appeals in Ohio, rejected Gilberts appeal of the verdict from the civil trial.� They noted that the case should never have gone to trial because only the person who was incarcerated can file a wrongful imprisonment suit, and that right dies with the person.� In other words, there was no legal foundation for the case.� Gilbert then appealed to the Ohio Supreme Court, and in August 2002, they issued a one-sentence ruling, refusing to hear the appeal.� The fat lady has sung on this one.� Its over.

Personally, I dont know of any other logical conclusion that anyone could come to from the totality of these facts and circumstances, but that Sam Sheppard murdered his wife.� You can always find some doubt in any case, but in my mind this one is beyond a reasonable doubt.