CAS PS 354 Lecture Notes - Lecture 3: American Justice, Surgical Instrument, Forensic Science
5 Oct 2018
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PS354-Lecture 3
I. Pretrial publicity- prevents the jury from being blank slates, which will affect the decision
that the court reaches.
II. American Justice System the Sam Shepperd Story-Video
a. Sam Shepperd was a doctor and his wife was murdered. No signs of forced entry.
He claimed that the intruder was a man with bushy hair. Their soon slept through
the whole thing. Coroner suspected that Shepperd was the prime suspect and
staged the whole thing.
i. He was having an affair that his wife was aware of.
ii. Highly publicized by media.
iii. The supina- he kicked the attorney out and the coroner alone served as
judge and lawyer in interrogation. He was eventually arrested and put on
trial.
b. Prosecuting attorney set out a special place for the press in the courtroom-many
special star reporters= very heavy media influence.
i. Jury names and addresses were printed in the paper.
ii. They took the jury to the crime scene along with Shepperd himself in
handcuffs. They also showed them a slideshow of pictures of Marilyn.
iii. Gerber= the coroner claimed that the murder weapon surgical instrument,
but the weapon was never found. No actual proof of murder.
iv. Jury found him guilty of second degree not first-degree murder. No
premeditated.
c. Defense was not allowed to survey the crime scene prior to the trial or the hire
anyone to investigate the crime scene
i. After trial Shepperd brothers hired a forensic scientist- showed that killer
was left handed, but Shepperd is right handed.
ii. Supreme court denied appeal. Shepperd attorney also died.
iii. New lawyer represented him. Bailey embraced the press coverage.
Appealed to federal court that he was denied his right to a fair trial due to
press coverage. Sam was let go and he was engaged to another woman.
d. This decision was appealed, and eventually supreme court decided to hear the
case again. It was the responsibility of the judge ensure the fairness of the court
and press coverage.
i. The coroner admitted that they couldn’t find a weapon that matched the
description. He was finally let go. But real murderer not found.
ii. His wife eventually divorced him, he was going into depression, his
license was reinstated but he was too out of practice. Alcohol, sedatives,
died to liver failure.
e. Sam Reese Shepperd- son of Shepperd, came to clear his father’s name.
i. Window washer was suspected he had mental illness and a lot of evidence
accumulated.
ii. The coroner’s office held a lot more evidence that had not been previously
released.
iii. Indicated that she had possibly been raped as well.
