Press Release

EMBARGOED FOR 2:30 p.m., Sunday, Oct. 17

Contact: Abe Bonowitz
Pager: 888-319-1369

SAM REESE SHEPPARD CONCLUDES WALK FOR JUSTICE
CALLS FOR ACCOUNTABILITY AND RESPONSIBILITY

SAM REESE SHEPPARD, having walked more than 400 miles from the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, DC, arrived at the Cuyahoga County Courthouse today. The walk began at the high court to remind the people of Cuyahoga County that the Court's 1966 decision in Sheppard v. Maxwell threw out Dr. Sheppard's wrongful conviction and forced the state to give him a new and fair trial in which he was found "Not Guilty."

Standing in front of the Cuyahoga County Courthouse, Sheppard addressed the media, friends and supporters who joined him for the last mile of his trek.

"It's been a long walk, about 400 miles," he said. "45 years ago, my father, Dr. Samuel H. Sheppard, sat in jail awaiting a trial that could take his life. Tomorrow is the anniversary of the start of the unfair trial in 1954. How long will it take for the State of Ohio to admit that it made a fatal mistake which destroyed an American family? How long will it take the state to approach this in an objective and fair manner? I look forward to a fair trial in the civil court commencing here in Cuyahoga County at the end of January."

Sheppard renewed calls for accountability and responsibility on the part of government officials with authority in criminal justice matters.

"This is not just about me and my family. During my walk I have met so many people who are concerned about abuse of power and the impunity with which our government official act," he said. "Those charged with investigating criminal matters and those charged with the administration of our criminal justice procedures must be held to higher standards of accountability and responsibility. We are all human beings, and humans make mistakes.

The problem is that Cuyahoga County officials have made a mistake in the case of my father, and 45 years later they still refuse to face the truth and admit that they were wrong. This happens today also, like in the case of Anthony Apanovitch and Kenny Richey here on Ohio's death row. They have strong evidence to show their innocence, but no court will look at it. That is wrong. I urge the media to look carefully at those cases."

The Sheppard Estate filed a lawsuit in civil court to obtain a formal declaration of innocence from the state.

"My father is innocent," said Sheppard. "He was found "not guilty" at the fair trial in 1966. The defendants in this case are the State and the County. Even if we lose this trial, my father remains innocent."

"All I ever wanted," Sheppard continued, "is the truth about what happened to my mother. The state refused to investigate the murder of my mother after my father was acquitted in 1966, so we investigated the murder ourselves. The civil trial was the instrument which allowed us access to evidence. We solved the murder, we know who did it, and the county has refused to examine the evidence we uncovered in an objective way, if they even looked at it at all. Murder victim's family members, and I am one, should never be ignored, deceived or denied the truth about the death of their loved ones."

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