''Sheppard v. Maxwell'', 384 U.S. 333 (1966), was a
United States Supreme Court
The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all U.S. federal court cases, and over state court cases that involve a point o ...
case that examined a defendant's
right to a fair trial
A fair trial is a trial which is "conducted fairly, justly, and with procedural regularity by an impartial judge". Various rights associated with a fair trial are explicitly proclaimed in Article 10 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, th ...
as required by the
Sixth Amendment and the
due process clause
In United States constitutional law, a Due Process Clause is found in both the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments to the United States Constitution, which prohibits arbitrary deprivation of "life, liberty, or property" by the government except as ...
of the
Fourteenth Amendment.
In particular, the court sought to determine whether or not Sheppard, the defendant, was denied fair trial for the second-degree murder of his wife, of which he was convicted, because of the trial judge's failure to protect him sufficiently from the massive, pervasive, and prejudicial publicity that attended his prosecution.
Background
After suffering a trial court conviction of second-degree murder for the bludgeoning death of his pregnant wife,
Sam Sheppard
Samuel Holmes Sheppard, Doctor of Osteopathic Medicine, D.O. ( – ) was an American Neurosurgery, neurosurgeon. He was exonerated in 1966, having been convicted of the 1954 murder of his pregnant wife, Marilyn Reese Sheppard. The case was con ...
challenged the verdict as the product of an unfair trial. Sheppard, who maintained his innocence of the crime, alleged that the trial judge failed to protect him from the massive, widespread, and prejudicial publicity that attended his prosecution.
An appeal, from the Ohio district court ruling, supported his claim. Then the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision.
When Sheppard appealed again, the Supreme Court granted
certiorari
In law, ''certiorari'' is a court process to seek judicial review of a decision of a lower court or government agency. ''Certiorari'' comes from the name of an English prerogative writ, issued by a superior court to direct that the record of ...
.
Decision
Justice Clark delivered the opinion of the court:
See also
*
F. Lee Bailey
Francis Lee Bailey Jr. (June 10, 1933 – June 3, 2021) was an American criminal defense attorney. Bailey's name first came to nationwide attention for his involvement in the second murder trial of Sam Sheppard, a surgeon accused of murdering ...
*
List of United States Supreme Court cases, volume 384
This is a list of all the United States Supreme Court cases from volume 384 of the ''United States Reports
The ''United States Reports'' () are the official record ( law reports) of the Supreme Court of the United States. They include rulings, ...
*
Continuance
In American procedural law, a continuance is the postponement of a hearing, trial, or other scheduled court proceeding at the request of either or both parties in the dispute, or by the judge ''sua sponte''. In response to delays in bringing cases ...
References
Bibliography
* The Wrong Man: The Final Verdict on the Dr. Sam Sheppard Murder Case (Random House, 2001) ISBN 978-0679457190
External links
*
{{Sixth Amendment, impartial, state=expanded
United States Supreme Court cases
United States Free Speech Clause case law
United States Sixth Amendment jury case law
1966 in United States case law
United States Supreme Court cases of the Warren Court