Nation IN BRIEF : OHIO : New Test Sought in Sheppard Murder

Thirty years after Sam Sheppard was acquitted of murdering his wife, a prosecutor wants an inmate’s blood sample to compare with a sample found at the crime scene that was never tied to either the osteopathic surgeon or his wife, Marilyn. But Cuyahoga County prosecutor Stephanie Tubbs Jones said that doesn’t mean she’s reopening the case. It’s only prudent, she said, to follow up on new forensic evidence and a request by Sheppard’s son to take a second look at the 1954 murder. Sheppard was sentenced to life in prison after a sensational trial in which he pleaded innocent. The conviction was reversed in 1966, in part because publicity made a fair trial impossible, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled. He was later acquitted.