Da: "coalit"
A: "amici coalit"
Oggetto: [listacoalit] Fw: "THE WRONG MAN" New Book on the Sheppard Case
Data: marted́ 13 novembre 2001 14.56
> > Dear Friends,
> >
> > On Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2001, "The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict
on
> > the Sheppard Case" became available in book stores. It's been long in
> > coming, and having made possible and sat through a number of author
James
> > Neff's interviews with Sam Reese Sheppard, I am looking forward to
reading
> > it. The Sheppard case holds many lessons for those interested in our
> legal
> > system and justice (two different things) in the United States. I urge
> you
> > to read this important new book.
> >
> > Below are two reviews of the book. The first is by Steve
> > Weinberg, a writer in Columbia, MO who is currently leading a nationwide
> > study of prosecutorial misconduct, and how it sometimes leads to
wrongful
> > convictions. Of interest is the fact that this review appeared in the
> > Cleveland Plain Dealer, which has been notoriously anti-Sheppard. The
> > second is from yesterday's USA Today. A full page ad, and possibly a
> > review, will appear in this Sunday's New York Times.
> >
> > You can support Sam's anti-death penalty activities by buying
> this
> > book via the link on Sam's web page: .
> >
> > Abraham J. Bonowitz
> > for Sam Reese Sheppard
> >
> >
> > *****
> >
> > The below is from:
> >
>
/html_standard.xsl?/base/entertainment/10044447622834358.xml>
> >
> > A masterful look at the Sam Sheppard case
> > 10/30/01
> > Steve Weinberg
> > Special to The Plain Dealer
> >
> > Cleveland loyalists are almost certain to be offended by "The Wrong
Man,"
> > which details 47 years of areawide corruption, incompetence,
indifference,
> > willful blindness, class clashes and professional disagreements. The
> > villains are police, forensic scientists, prosecutors, jurors, judges,
> > journalists, physicians and a significant segment of the general
> citizenry.
> >
> > The offense taken is quite likely to be all the more stinging because
the
> > author until recently was one of their own - James Neff, who grew up in
> > Cleveland, lived in Cleveland with his wife and family and worked at The
> > Plain Dealer for 10 years. (Earlier this year, Neff left Ohio for
> Seattle.)
> >
> > Finally, the offense taken might be especially hurtful because Neff's
book
> > about one of the most renowned murder cases in U.S. history is
completely
> > persuasive. It's a painstakingly researched, compellingly written true-
> > crime masterpiece. Any holes in Neff's case were not evident to me.
> >
> > Marilyn Sheppard, pregnant and the mother of a 7-year-old son, turned up
> > bludgeoned to death in her Bay Village home on July 4, 1954. At first,
it
> > made sense for everybody to suspect her physician-husband, Sam. After
all,
> > his story seemed suspect: He said he had been sleeping during the
pre-dawn
> > attack, in a different room from his wife but seemingly close enough to
> > have been awakened by a struggle. He had blood on his pants.
> >
> > Although in many ways a doting husband and father, the handsome,
athletic
> > physician was a ladies' man. He and Marilyn had argued about
extramarital
> > affairs.
> >
> > The murder investigation was flawed from the start. Bay Village police,
> > lacking experience with homicides, failed to secure the crime scene,
thus
> > allowing physical evidence to become contaminated as Sheppard's family
and
> > friends bustled around the house and yard. Cuyahoga County Coroner Dr.
> > Samuel Gerber arrived within hours. His experience with homicides helped
> > bring order out of chaos, but Gerber's near-immediate belief that Sam
was
> > guilty skewed just about everything he did or said.
> >
> > Like most Cleveland-area residents, Neff knew about Sheppard's December
> > 1954 conviction, and his long-futile appeals from prison. Neff had heard
> > about the U.S. Supreme Court ruling that led to a new trial for Sam in
> > 1966, his acquittal, and the downward spiral of Sam's personal life.
> > Sheppard died at age 46 in 1970. The continuing belief in the popular
> > literature was that Sheppard had been freed on a technicality, and had
> > indeed killed his wife.
> >
> > But there was a great deal Neff did not know about the case. In fact,
Neff
> > says, "Nearly everything I thought I knew about the case would turn out
to
> > be wrong."
> >
> > In 1989, Richard Eberling had been convicted of murdering an elderly
> > Cuyahoga County woman named Ethel May Durkin. Durkin had trusted the
> > charming middle-aged Eberling, who had become a fixture in
Cleveland-area
> > society. Few knew that before the 1984 murder of Durkin, Eberling had
> > committed petty crimes much of his life.
> > In 1954, while employed part-time at the home of Marilyn and Sam
Sheppard,
> > Eberling had stolen Marilyn's ring. Several investigators working the
> > Marilyn Sheppard murder had briefly considered Eberling a suspect, but
> > eventually dismissed that thought.
> >
> > Neff knew the tenuous Eberling-Sheppard connection. He wanted to
> understand
> > Eberling better, so he requested a prison interview. After that
interview,
> > Neff believed Eberling was hiding a secret. So Neff pulled together
> > everything about the murder from the public record, then began the
arduous
> > work of locating missing police reports, court records, lawyers'
> > correspondence and people who might shed light on the truth. Part Three
of
> > Neff's book explains how his investigation unfolded, and how he
concluded
> > that Eberling murdered Marilyn Sheppard.
> >
> > For nine years, Neff stayed in touch with the imprisoned Eberling. In
July
> > 1998, Neff and Eberling talked yet again. During the in-person
interview,
> > Eberling "took himself back to 1954," Neff relates. "He described
himself
> > as snapping to alertness and finding himself in the Sheppards'
> > blood-splashed bedroom. He saw a crimson mess everywhere. He was
> horrified.
> > My God, I had never seen anything like it,' he said. I got out of
there.'
> I
> > asked a follow-up question but Eberling wouldn't answer. Catching
himself,
> > he wouldn't talk about it anymore. It turned out to be as close to a
> > confession as I could get. Richard Eberling died before I could return."
> >
> > Weinberg is a writer in Columbia, Mo. He is currently leading a
nationwide
> > study of prosecutorial misconduct, and how it sometimes leads to
wrongful
> > convictions.
> >
> >
> > ******
> >
> > The below is from:
> >
> >
> > 11/08/2001 - Updated 09:27 AM ET
> > 'Wrong Man' makes case for Sheppard's innocence By Deirdre Donahue, USA
> TODAY
> >
> > One strongly hesitates to call a book about the tragic murder of a
> pregnant
> > woman escapist reading, but James Neff's The Wrong Man: The Final
Verdict
> > on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case proved compelling, sympathetic,
> > informative. And an excellent alternative to reading news stories about
> > anthrax.
> >
> > The Sheppard case is imbedded in the American psyche. The 1954 story of
a
> > prominent Cleveland physician convicted of killing his wife was believed
> by
> > the public to influence the TV series The Fugitive and the 1993 movie
> > starring Harrison Ford. The public's imagination was gripped by the
story
> > of a "bushy-haired" intruder and the question of Sheppard's guilt or
> innocence.
> >
> > A clear, well-organized writer, Neff does an outstanding job examining
the
> > famous case, setting out the facts, and then illuminating the subsequent
> > trials as seen through the prism of the evolving science of DNA and
crime
> > psychology. Neff does this without bogging the reader down in excessive,
> > self-indulgent research.
> >
> > Far more than a true-crime book, the story can be seen as a meditation
on
> > the rapid societal changes from the mid-'50s to today in areas such as
> > press coverage, sex and the psychology of murder. Athletic, handsome Sam
> > Sheppard was a good doctor and an affectionate father and husband. But
he
> > was not a faithful spouse to his young wife.
> >
> > When his wife was found hideously beaten to death in their bedroom, his
> > story of being hit by an intruder did not sway the police from their
> belief
> > that this was a domestic violence case probably involving adultery. The
> > very vagueness of his story, which he consistently repeated, would
suggest
> > that it wasn't a lie.
> >
> > The Cleveland newspapers played a vital and unsavory role in the push to
> > convict Dr. Sheppard. They played on working-class resentment against
the
> > well-off Sheppard doctors. (There were four.) And medical tensions
> surfaced.
> >
> > The Sheppards were osteopath doctors, a group the powerful coroner, an
> > allopathic doctor, loathed for a number of reasons. (The American
Medical
> > Association also hated them.) The jury was not shielded from press
> > coverage. Members were identified in the press, making them celebrities
to
> > their neighbors. And probably making it hard for them to acquit
Sheppard.
> >
> > The trial's notoriety was on par with the Lindbergh kidnapping case.
> > Nationally known "sob sister" journalists hit town to cover the case for
> > the nation. Before the jury had even been chosen, the judge told Hearst
> > columnist Dorothy Kilgallen that Sheppard was "guilty as hell." She
waited
> > almost a decade before revealing this crucial information.
> >
> > Neff gives the reader a sense of the trial and the doom Sheppard must
have
> > felt upon being convicted. (His brothers, particularly Steve, would be
> > rocks of support.) Although Sheppard's aged lawyer Bill Corrigan failed
in
> > certain key areas, he tried his best and recognized that he should have
> > gotten more and better scientific analysis to refute the coroner.
> >
> > Enter crime-lab pioneer Paul Kirk, known as the "father of
> criminalistics."
> > He was an expert in what blood drops reveal about a crime through their
> > size, shape and spray pattern.
> >
> > And a dynamic, 27-year-old lawyer named F. Lee Bailey emerges. He would
> > defend Sheppard, who served nine years, in his successful 1964 appeal
that
> > would throw out his manslaughter conviction on constitutional grounds.
The
> > judge ruled that Sheppard's rights to due process and a fair trial were
> > violated. The judge particularly criticized the news media. (Neff
> > interviews five of the surviving jurors from the original 1954 case who
> > were heavily influenced by press stories about Sheppard's adultery,
> > including false ones.)
> >
> > When Sheppard walked out of prison, he was a different man. Neff
cogently
> > explains how he changed. "Gone were the physician's temperament and
> > judgment. He was filled instead with rage and a self-pitying sense of
> > entitlement." His friends were tough ex-cons. His second wife was a
> > beautiful but strange German heiress with a compulsion to dominate.
(Women
> > drawn to men in prison usually have their own issues.) Sheppard's
erratic
> > behavior and alcoholism would continue until his death at 46.
> >
> > Briefly a professional wrestler, Sheppard was drinking a quart or more
of
> > liquor a day by the end of his life and died of a liver ailment. His son
> > would become an anti-death-penalty advocate.
> >
> > Yet the case would live on, thanks to the mysteries of DNA. Specimens
> taken
> > from Marilyn Sheppard's body would reveal the sperm of a man other than
> > Sheppard. There was also blood from a third person at the crime scene.
> >
> > Almost from the beginning, the police had known there was a local man
> named
> > Richard Eberling who had done work for the Sheppards. An abused foster
> > child, he would eventually be arrested for stealing jewelry in 1959.
> > (Marilyn Sheppard's rings would be found in his possession.) Later,
> > Eberling would be convicted of murdering an old lady in a manner similar
> to
> > the death of Marilyn Sheppard. To friends, he would confess that he had
> > killed Marilyn Sheppard. Neff makes a very convincing case that he has
> > found the right man in Marilyn Sheppard's murder.
> >
> > The Wrong Man is a perceptive look at the intricacies of the justice
> > system. Real life, it seems, is no Hollywood movie.
> >
> >
> > EXCERPT
> >
> > At 5:40 a.m. on July 4, 1954, the mayor of Bay Village was awakened by a
> > telephone call. It was his neighbor Sam Sheppard, shouting, "My God,
Spen,
> > get over here quick! I think they've killed Marilyn!"
> > "What!"
> > "Oh, my God, get over here quick!"
> > Spencer Houk jumped up and got dressed, waking his wife, Esther. She
hated
> > to get up early, but she knew something terrible had happened. She
pulled
> > on a dress and shoes. They lived only two houses away from Sam and
> Marilyn,
> > but Spen, a butcher, had a bad knee, so they got in their car and drove
to
> > the Sheppards' house.
> >
> > *******
> >
> > SENT BY:
> > Abraham J. Bonowitz
> >
> >
> >
> > "In recording for my boy what I have been subjected
> > to, it will be necessary to make known American injustice
> > perpetrated not by the laws of our land, but by those who
> > have sworn themselves to uphold those laws... A frightening
> > breach of American rights has taken place, and the important
> > point is that the breach has happened here in America, not
> > who it has happened to."
> >
> > 1955, Dr. Sam Sheppard
> > From his prison journal
> >
> > Please visit