Early on July 4, 1954, Marilyn Sheppard, who was thirty-one and pregnant with her second child, was murdered in her bed. Evidence later indicated that the assailant may have raped her before killing her. Marilyn's husband, thirty-one-year-old Sam Sheppard, was a well-known doctor in the community of Bay Village, a suburb located just outside of Cleveland, Ohio. Dr. Sheppard was found guilty of his wife's murder and sentenced to imprisonment in an Ohio institution.

The doctor vehemently denied any involvement in the crime and repeatedly pleaded for release from his alleged wrongful imprisonment. More than ten years after the murder, a judge finally listened to Dr. Sheppard's pleas. He granted Dr. Sheppard a new trial in 1966, during which he was represented by F. Lee Bailey. At the close of the second trial, the jury found Dr. Sheppard not guilty. Although Sheppard regained his liberty, the public continued to doubt his...