What Was The 1954 Trial Of Marilyn Sheppard

The 1954 trial of the murder of Marilyn Sheppard was one of the most well-known trial cases in U.S. at that time. It was the case of the media. The media was the thing that held the power. Along with prejudgments and hidden evidence, this was one of the most unprofessional held cases ever. No one person knows what actually happened that no one ever will know. Everyone has their own conclusion, one of them must be right. There are many endings that one can say is the right one. When looking at all the information and all the evidence Dr. Sam Sheppard could be ruled out as the killer and having anything to do with the murder of his wife. Since this trial was back in 1954 there has been so much time has passed but there will never be a clear answer

Even though this person was described and had a high possibility that he was killer, he was never brought in for questioning by the police. Richard Eberling was a window washer for the Sheppard’s at the time, was described to be a “tall bushy-haired” man. He was never brought in for questioning but years after the first trial he was under arrest for the murder of another woman. “In 1997 he had his father’s body exhumed to obtain a DNA sample, which was compared to blood found at the murder scene. None of the stains matched Sheppard’s genetic profile,” these stains did end up matching Richard Eberling. These were looked over because everyone was convinced that he was the one to do.
The second biggest mistake of this investigation was the prejudgment of what happened before even showing up at the crime scene. There was no caution put around the crime scene. All of the police officials and investigators walked around the house and the room of the murder as if nothing was wrong or nothing happened, almost like they were just visiting the Sheppard

The media was everywhere within this trial. It had captured the attention of everyone in the state of Ohio and the country. They held a “pre-trial” to the first trial where it was just the town criticizing and accusing Dr. Sheppard. This was unconventional and unprofessional on many levels; something like this should have never been allowed to happen. During the first trial there were more people of the media than there were of court officials and people who were a critical part of the trial. Having the media take over and “become” the judicial system of this case was the number one mistake that was made during this trial. There is not much that anyone can do to stop the media from covering the story but there was something the court system to do to protect the jury, all the officials, and even Dr. Sheppard himself. The media was such an influence; they were pressuring the police and the court system to arrest and convict