It's been 45 years
since Marilyn Sheppard was murdered in her bed and her husband reported
chasing a bushy-haired man out of his lakeside home outside Cleveland.
Now the case
that inspired the movie and TV series "The Fugitive" is headed back
to court, and the defendants in the new case are preparing to exhume
Mrs. Sheppard's remains.
That is something
her son expects will be so traumatic that he will need the solitude
of the open road.
Sam Reese
Sheppard said he will leave Saturday on a walk from the United States
Supreme Court --
which ordered the 2nd trial that freed Dr. Sam Sheppard -- to the
murder site at Bay
Village, Ohio.
Speaking by
phone from Oakland, Calif., Sheppard said walking 20 miles a day
will be
his way of preparing
for what he expects will be a difficult experience.
"The walking
is for the good of my soul," he said. "I will walk and meditate and
hope for peace and reconciliation."
Along the
way, Sheppard intends to stop at a prison in Pennsylvania to visit
James
A. Dennis, a
death row inmate who he believes was condemned for a murder he
did not commit.
Sheppard,
52, scheduled his walk and rallies in Washington, Cleveland and Waynesburg,
Pa., to coincide
with the expected start of a civil trial in his wrongful imprisonment
lawsuit
against the state
of Ohio. The walk also coincides with the broadcast of a program
about
the case on public
television's "Nova."
The new trial has
been delayed until January to allow the Cuyahoga County prosecutor,
which is handling the defense, time to gather DNA samples. Prosecutor
William Mason
said he expects
to exhume Mrs. Sheppard's remains in early October.
Sheppard has
taken to the road before to protest the death penalty, walking across
Ohio
in 1997 and from
Boston to New Orleans in 1995.
Dr. Sam Sheppard
spent a decade in prison after being convicted of beating his wife
to death in July 1954. That verdict was overturned by the Supreme
Court, and a retrial in
1966 acquitted him.
The younger
Sheppard contends that his mother was killed by a man who washed the family's
windows and later died while serving time for another murder.
To win the
wrongful imprisonment suit, the son's lawyers must convince a jury
that the majority of evidence indicates the doctor was innocent. If Sheppard
wins, damages could reach as much as $2 million.
Sheppard was
7 years old when his mother was killed and was not taken to her funeral.
In addition
to spotlighting his oppsition to the death penalty, he said one of
his goals was to draw attention to the need to understand and help
those affected by violence.
"Murder victims'
family members are never completely healed," he said.
"There's never
complete closure. There's always another anniversary date."
(source:
Associated Press)
| Visit the CUADP page for more info on Sam's walk |
| Return to Jimmy Dennis' CCADP Homepage |
