ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, February 2, 1996 TAG: 9602030013
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-2 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: CLEVELAND
SOURCE: Associated Press
Thirty years after Sam Sheppard was acquitted of murdering his wife in a case that inspired the TV series and movie ``The Fugitive,'' a prosecutor wants an inmate's blood sample to compare with evidence found at the crime scene.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Stephanie Tubbs Jones said it's only prudent to follow up on new forensic evidence and a request by Sheppard's son to take a second look at the 1954 murder of Marilyn Sheppard.
``It was brought to our attention that there was a blood sample at the scene that was never tied to either Sheppard or his wife,'' Jones said. The request for a sample from the inmate, ``is only part of an ongoing review to see if there is any justification for reopening'' the case.
Sheppard's son, Samuel Reese Sheppard, has said the blood may belong to convicted murderer Richard Eberling, who is serving 20 years to life for killing an elderly woman in 1984. Sheppard has collaborated on a new book, ``Mockery of Justice: The True Story of the Sheppard Murder Case,'' which says several pieces of evidence point to Eberling as the culprit.
In October, he asked Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court to declare that Sam Sheppard had been wrongfully imprisoned. He suggested the murderer was Eberling, who had washed windows at the Sheppard home several days before the July 4, 1954, killing.
Sam Sheppard, an osteopathic surgeon, was sentenced to life in prison after a sensational two-month trial. He pleaded innocent, saying a bushy-haired man he didn't know killed his wife. The conviction was reversed in 1966, in part because the publicity made it impossible for him to have a fair trial, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled.
He was acquitted later that year with the help of his young lawyer, F. Lee Bailey. Sheppard died in 1976 of liver failure.
LENGTH: Short : 43 linesby CNB