[chris]

This file concerns Dr. Samuel Holmes Sheppard, who was convicted in Ohio of the 1954 murder of his pregnant wife, Marilyn Sheppard. The FBI records show that the Bureau considered itself without jurisdiction over the local murder case, but received and relayed several public tips and purported leads to Cuyahoga County prosecutors and other local authorities. The released material includes FBI memoranda and correspondence from 1954 through 1956, newspaper clippings about the investigation and defense criminologist Paul L. Kirk, and a 1965 Sixth Circuit opinion in Sheppard v. Maxwell. The court material discusses Sheppard's federal habeas corpus challenge, including claims that publicity, judicial conduct, lie-detector references, and jury communications denied him a fair trial.

FBI file number: 63-HQ-3206 | Documents span: 1954-1965 | Released in 3 parts
Names in this file: Samuel Holmes Sheppard, Marilyn Sheppard, E. L. Maxwell, Paul L. Kirk, John Edgar Hoover, Frank T. Cullitan, William J. Corrigan
Subjects: Sheppard murder case, FBI jurisdiction, trial publicity, habeas corpus, Ohio criminal justice