JURY TRIALS AND THE MEDIA

Sheppard Murder Case Timeline

Directions:

Construct a timeline illustrating the various court decisions in the Sheppard case, including pending litigation.

1. Make one text box per court case, with the following information identified:
   1. Date of the court decision (i.e. month and year, if possible)
   2. Jurisdiction (i.e. state court system or federal court system)
   3. Level of court at which the decision was made (i.e. trial court, appeals, supreme)
   4. Summary of the court's decision
   5. Whether the decision was made by a jury (*)
2. Give your timeline a title.
3. Label each category of court decisions to distinguish those relating to the same issue (i.e. murder conviction)

The Sheppard Murder Case

Constructing the Timeline:

• Open Microsoft Word
• Use the Draw Toolbar" to make sure the Draw Toolbar is viewable, select View, then Toolbar, and Draw.) The Draw Toolbar will be accessible on the bottom of your screen.
• To create text boxes, either select Auto Shapes and Flow Charts, or simply use the Text Box option. If using the Flow Charts option, you will need to select Text Box and then click on the Flow Chart shape to be able to type within the shape.
• To create arrows/lines, click on the arrow option in the Draw Toolbar; then click and drag to create the line.
• Shading and color of the lines and boxes can be changed by double clicking on the inside of the box or on the line. A dialog box appears with color and line options. Line thickness can be changed by selecting the line or box and then selecting the appropriate line size from the Draw Toolbar below.
• After creating the chart, you can group all shapes and lines for form one image by holding the Shift key and clicking on each shape and line until all are selected. Then go to the Draw option on the Draw Toolbar and select Group (the image can be ungrouped at any time.)

THE SHEPPARD MURDER CASE

Part 1: Murder Conviction

• December 1954 Ohio State Trial Court (Sheppard was guilty of murder)*
• July 1995 Ohio State Court of Appeals (Confirmed guilty verdict)
• April 1956 Ohio State Supreme Court (Confirmed guilty verdict)
• November 1956 U.S. Supreme Court (Refused to hear the case)

Part 2: Sheppard Denied A Fair Trial

• July 1964 Federal District Court (Sheppard was denied a fair trial)*
• July 1965 Federal Court of Appeals (Reversed Federal District Court)
• June 1966 U.S. Supreme Court (Upheld Federal District Court)

Part 3: Murder Sheppard Acquitted in Second Murder Trial

• Fall 1966 Ohio State Trial Court (Sheppard was not guilty of murder)*

Part 4: Wrongful Conviction

• 1999-2000 Ohio State Trial Court (Outcome pending)*

Download this timeline in MS Word format.