The Sam Sheppard case, one of the most infamous in Cleveland and American history, captivated the nation following the July 4, 1954, murder of Marilyn Shepphard and, of course, spawned The Fugitive. Sixty years later, Cleveland State University’s Cleveland-Marshall College of Law Library has launched a public online compilation of the case files, court transcripts, coroner notes and documents right here.
Cleveland-Marshall said the documents collected and used by the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office in a 2000 civil trial filed by Shepard’s estate, which sought a declaration of innocence and acknowledgment of wrongful imprisonment, form the basis of the online collection. The 2000 trial included more than 600 exhibits, in addition to the testimony of 76 witnesses and 19 experts, according to the law school.
The materials were donated in 2012 by former Cuyahoga County prosecutor Bill Mason.
Get sleuthing, internet.
This article appears in Jul 2-8, 2014.
Learn to spell Sheppard. It’s in your story.