| Litigants: | Sheppard v. Maxwell |
| Arguedate: | February 28 |
| Argueyear: | 1966 |
| Decidedate: | June 6 |
| Decideyear: | 1966 |
| Fullname: | Sheppard v. Maxwell |
| Usvol: | 384 |
| Uspage: | 333 |
| Parallelcitations: | 86 S.Ct. 1507; 16 L. Ed. 2d 600; 1966 U.S. LEXIS 1413; 1 Med. L. Rptr. 1220 |
| Prior: | Appeal from the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals |
| Holding: | Sheppard did not receive a fair trial due to media interference. |
| Majority: | Clark |
| Joinmajority: | Warren, Douglas, Harlan, Brennan, Stewart, White, Fortas |
| Dissent: | Black |
| Lawsapplied: | U.S. Const. amend. I, U.S. Const. amend. VI |
Sheppard v. Maxwell, 384 U.S. 333 (1966), was a United States Supreme Court case that examined a defendant's right to a fair trial as required by the Sixth Amendment and the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
In particular, the court sought to determine whether or not Sam Sheppard, the defendant, was denied fair trial for the second-degree murder of his wife, of which he was convicted, because of the trial judge's failure to protect him sufficiently from the massive, pervasive, and prejudicial publicity that attended his prosecution.
After suffering a trial court conviction of second-degree murder for the bludgeoning death of his pregnant wife, Sheppard challenged the verdict as the product of an unfair trial. Sheppard, who maintained his innocence of the crime, alleged that the trial judge failed to protect him from the massive, widespread, and prejudicial publicity that attended his prosecution.
An Ohio federal district court ruled in his favor, but the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed that decision.
Sheppard petitioned the Supreme Court to hear the case by writ of certiorari, and the Supreme Court granted the petition.
Justice Clark delivered the opinion of the court: