My Father's Shadow: The Sam Sheppard Story (1998) - full transcript
Fact-based story about the controversial conviction of Dr. Sam Sheppard (Peter Strauss) for the murder of his wife in Cleveland. The story picks up with his conviction and concentrates on his son's (Henry Czerny) efforts 40 years later to find evidence that his father was innocent of the crime. The story was the basis for the film and TV series of "The Fugitive".
(upbeat music)
(melancholy music)
(waves crashing)
Mom, Mom, I think I found an agate!
Where?
Let's see.
Oh, gee.
That's nifty.
Dad said the Indians believed
agates have special powers.
Oh, yeah?
What kind of powers?
I dunno.
Maybe magical powers
to heal people like Dad.
Maybe.
Yeah.
Race you back to the house.
Come on!
Wait!
(Marilyn and Sam laughing)
(dog barking)
I won.
Yeah, you did, honey.
You're too fast for me.
I'm sorry to bother you, Mrs. Sheppard,
but I left my ladder from yesterday.
Oh, it's no bother.
It's in the basement.
Come on, I'll show you, Mr. Lund.
Shift and I was exhausted.
My wife is gonna kill me when I get home.
How's her signs?
[Anesthesiologist] Stable. 102 over 70.
She says I'm too tired for sex.
Maybe you should give up medicine.
And give up seeing you?
(nurse laughs)
Suction.
Wait.
Damn it.
There's a second tumor up against the basilar artery.
That's not respectable.
We'll have to close.
Hold it.
I can do this.
Sam, you'll kill her.
No, Robert you're wrong.
Narrow retractor and a dissector.
I'm gonna save this girl's life.
I oughta put you on salary.
No, thanks.
I'm gonna be a doctor.
Just like your daddy, huh?
Well, I want you to have a good 4th of July,
but don't get too close to the fireworks.
Yes, sir, Mr. Eberling.
Well, I thought you said you would be home by five.
Oh.
Of course, something always comes up.
Well, there's always some emergency
or some operation.
Meanwhile, I'm stuck in this house
with your friend who refuses to do...
Just remember that your folks said
they might stop by tonight along with the Houk's.
All right.
Love you.
♪ I love you ♪
♪ And I always will ♪
♪ Just why you left me ♪
I just miss him.
That's all.
Me too.
♪ If you ever need me ♪
♪ Just call my name ♪
I know you do.
But he's a very busy man with lots of responsibilities.
He's the best surgeon in the city.
Think he'll be home a lot more
when the new baby comes?
I'm sure he will.
♪ No mountain too high ♪
Okay?
She's going to be fine.
Oh God.
Thank you so much.
Actually, if it hadn't been
for my big brother, Robert,
things might have gone differently.
I'm just glad it all went well.
Oh, thank you.
You can see her once they get her down to intensive care.
Doctor Thomas Green.
Paging Doctor Thomas Green.
You took quite a gamble.
Be happy, Robert.
We just saved to life.
Oh.
Excuse me, Dr. Sheppard.
Rosie.
(sighs) When are you gonna grow up?
I just smiled at her.
That's a refreshing change.
(Sam laughs)
No, it isn't funny, Sam.
You are a member of an important family
with a lot at stake in this hospital.
Excuse me, Dr. Sheppard.
You're wanted in OR three stat.
Accident victim, internal bleeding.
Duty calls.
♪ Baby I gotta know your love ♪
(upbeat dance music)
♪ Come on over and shake and shake ♪
There must be complications.
Well, anything can happen in an operating room.
More coffee, Esther?
Yes, thank you.
Are you dreading getting fat?
She's not getting fat, Esther.
She's pregnant.
(Marilyn laughs)
Thank you, Spen.
It's good to see you and Sam so happy.
Oh, don't tell me you've already had your coffee.
How'd it go?
16 units, A positive,
plus two manual cardiac massages,
but he's stabilized, Ed.
And the pediatric tumor?
Fully conscious.
In fact-
Enough shop talk.
You must be tired.
No, Mom. I'm beat.
Darling.
Hi.
We were starting to worry.
Dad!
Look what I made.
You made this by yourself?
Well, this is excellent work.
Very great attention to detail.
Look at this craftsmanship.
This is beautiful work, Chip.
It's also time you were in bed, young man.
You'll be up late tomorrow with the fireworks.
Let's go.
Goodnight Grandpa, Grandma.
Mr. and Mrs. Houk.
Maybe we'll try it tomorrow.
We'll put it-
Sam.
Can I see you for a minute?
Go on up.
Where were you?
At the hospital.
Where do you think?
You can call if you don't believe me.
I don't need to call.
I know you can cover your tracks.
Marilyn, if you're gonna gimme one of your lectures-
Doesn't it ever stop, Sam?
Don't I ever become enough?
Give me your hand.
(melancholy music)
Do you know what this is?
Yes.
This is a new life.
It's a new chance
for all of us.
I just want us to be happy again.
Please.
Please, Sam.
I love you so much.
Dear God, please bless my mom and dad,
Grandpa and Grandma, and my Uncle Robert.
Amen.
Did you say your prayers?
Yep.
Good boy.
Okay.
Now let me see those hands.
You have beautiful hands, Chip.
These hands have greatness in them.
Always remember that.
You have a special gift in these hands.
Hop in.
(Rob and Sam laughing)
Goodnight, son.
(melancholy music continues)
Jim! Jim, wake up!
You gotta get out of here.
Come on, you don't have time to get dressed.
(ominous music)
Dad!
(camera flashes clicking)
(reporters clamoring)
(camera flash clicks)
(airplane whooshing)
Hey, you all right?
You turned white as a ghost for a second there.
I'm fine, thanks.
You dropped your letter.
Oh.
Thanks.
Sam.
I'm getting rid of your father's things.
If you want any of it,
meet me at the storage building
no later than Wednesday.
Ariane.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the captain turned on the fasten seat belt sign
as we begin our approach into
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
Mr. Gilbert.
Thank you.
Mr. Sheppard.
Anything else before we land?
Nope.
None for me. Thanks.
(Terry chuckles)
You know, it's funny,
one of the main reasons I became a lawyer
was 'cause of a guy named Sheppard.
Doctor in the 1950s,
accused of killing his wife in cold blood.
Amazing story.
(baby crying)
Lived right across town from us.
Terry Gilbert.
Sam Sheppard.
You're his son.
Yep.
How long will you been in town?
Not long.
Well, listen, I'm hosting a forum at the city club
on the abolition of the death penalty
and prisoner reform.
If there's any way you could attend.
Sorry, I can't.
Well, are you sure?
No, I'm sorry. I can't.
Just in case you change your mind.
He's going to be living with me for a while.
So we'll have to make some changes.
But, Dr. Sheppard, the boy cries all day.
His mother was murdered less than a week ago, Mrs. Avery.
What do you expect?
But I don't know what to do for him.
Well, he'll be in school most of the day.
And when he's not,
I'll pay whatever overtime is necessary.
But starting now, your duties will include
seeing to the boys' welfare.
Is that clear?
All right.
(knocking on door)
I think it best you not go to the funeral.
You'd be surrounded by reporters.
You'd never stand a chance.
When can I see my father?
I told you, he doesn't want you or Grandma
going to visit him in the jail.
You'll have to wait until he's released.
But what if he isn't?
There are no what ifs.
Your father's innocent
and we're gonna prove that at his trial.
Anyway,
he gave me this for you.
(melancholy music)
You should go to sleep now.
We're here today to witness
the burial of Marilyn Sheppard,
the victim of perhaps the most brutal crime
in this city's history.
Meanwhile, as evidence continues to mount
against the flamboyant Dr. Samuel Sheppard,
a clearer and clearer picture emerges
of a gifted neurosurgeon
who saw himself above the law.
A womanizer who drove an exotic sports car.
A well to-do osteopath
who shunned the norms of polite society.
This is the same man who asks us now
to believe the unbelievable.
That he fell asleep on the couch that night
and awoke hours later to hear his wife screaming.
That's when he says he ran up the stairs.
Well that's when he says
he saw a white form standing beside his wife's bed.
That's when he says everything went black.
You see, Dr. Sheppard wants us to believe
that the mysterious stranger
clubbed him on the back of the neck.
He wants us to believe
that after regaining consciousness,
he ran down the stairs-
You mustn't.
Grandma.
Chasing the mystery man,
with bushy hair, fled to the lake shore
where Dr. Sheppard supposedly passed out again.
Hello, Ariane.
I'm glad you came.
How are you?
Old.
Not so pretty anymore.
And you?
I'm working as a dental hygienist,
living in Boston.
I guess I'm doing okay.
Good.
I have no money, Sam,
not for keeping these things.
These are the letters that you sent him in prison.
(sirens wailing in distance)
What is it, Sam?
She died on this blanket.
(melancholy music)
(reporters clamoring)
Court floor is in session in five minutes.
(onlookers clamoring)
Everything's gonna work out, Sam.
I accompanied Dr. Sheppard to the hospital
where he was examined by his father and brother.
And what did you see of the examination?
Well, I didn't see much.
The family did their best to keep him away
like they were protecting him.
Objection.
Overruled.
Did you make any statements at that time
regarding Dr. Sheppard's condition?
I told him, "I think you killed your wife."
Objection, your honor!
(onlookers clamoring)
(gavel banging)
Order!
He said they had made an arrangement.
She let him have his affairs
and he promised to keep up appearances for her.
And now, Mr. Houk,
but was Marilyn content
with her husband's swinging lifestyle?
No.
She cried on my shoulder many a time
and I know she was hoping that her pregnancy
would change him,
but we all knew that he'd never stop cheating.
Objection.
Overruled.
Always overruled.
This isn't a trial.
It's a lynch mob!
Dad, please.
(gavel banging)
I refuse to be a party to this.
I refuse.
Order!
(reporters clamoring)
We met at the clinic where I was a lab technician.
And after a certain point,
your friendship with Dr. Sheppard became sexual.
Yes.
How many times a week
would you and Dr. Sheppard meet for sex, Ms. Hayes?
Two or three times a week.
(onlookers laughing)
And where did these sex acts take place?
In his car.
The Jaguar or in the Lincoln.
And sometimes in the apartment
he kept over the clinic.
Judge Blythin, what are his chances?
In my court, not good.
Sam Sheppard's guilty as hell.
He'll come apart if we put him on the stand.
Well, what's the alternative?
Sit silent in a rigged trial
where they won't let us back into Sam's house,
where they keep us from the evidence,
where they won't let us see the police reports,
and all the while,
the press get to tear my family apart
like a piece of meat?
Did you know about his affairs?
Oh, I don't know.
Maybe.
So what if I did?
He's on trial for murder, not arrogance.
I'm not so sure.
Look, Robert, I share your frustrations.
No, you don't.
Your father's not lying in a hospital fighting for his life
and your brother's not already
halfway strapped into the electric chair.
She was found with her pajama pants pulled down
and her pajama top pushed up,
exposing the anterior chest and pelvis.
The head and the face bloodied
by some 35 blows
ranging from four large gashes
to the upper right forehead,
skull fractures, broken nose,
two broken teeth.
And although the murder weapon
has not yet been found,
have you made a determination as to its nature?
Objection.
Your Honor, he's asking him to guess.
Overruled.
The witness may answer.
I'm convinced the murder weapon
was a surgical instrument.
The kind an osteopath might use,
with tooth like serrations crushing the skull
as you see here.
Stop it.
Please, stop.
Please, stop it.
(Sam sobbing)
Yeah!
(brooding music)
Going to the execution, Chip?
Don't call me that anymore.
Why not? It's still your name, isn't it?
Chip was my nickname.
My real name is Sam R. Sheppard,
just like my father.
Well they're gonna kill him, Sam R. Sheppard.
They're gonna fry your daddy in the electric chair.
Killer Sheppard gonna die.
Killer Sheppard gonna fry!
Killer Sheppard gonna die!
Killer Sheppard gonna fry!
Yeah! Yeah!
(brooding music continues)
(gavel banging)
Order!
(camera flash clicks)
Order!
We find the defendant, Dr. Samuel Holmes Sheppard,
guilty of murder in the second degree.
(crowd cheering)
(onlookers clamoring)
Dad! Dad!
Dad!
Well, well, well.
You had quite a day, didn't you?
Why don't you go haunt someone else?
You don't feel like talking tonight?
Not to a man who's been dead over 25 years.
Never stopped you before.
Oh yeah.
This is a little different, isn't it, Chip?
Would you stop calling me that?
Why?
You're just a little boy, aren't you?
Still scared,
still living in one room apartments
without a life, without a purpose.
Why don't you leave me alone?
Tired of talking to ghosts?
You wanna start being a man?
Oh, I'm a man, all right.
I'm a man whose father-
What?
Go on.
I'm a man whose father
was wrongfully convicted of killing my mother.
Gee, that has a real practiced ring to it, Chip.
What do you want from me?
I'm here, aren't I?
I mean, I came back to Cleveland.
Yeah, but tomorrow you're gonna run
just like you always do
when the going gets tough.
All right, you've made your little speech.
No, this time is different.
You turn your back this time,
you'll spend the rest of your life
in this hell with me.
Or you can decide if you've got the guts
to go to the bottom and look at the truth.
The truth about you.
The truth about me.
The truth about what happened that night.
(brooding music)
Excuse me.
If I wanna stay an extra day or two,
would that be possible?
Well, I'd need to rerun your credit card.
(Sam clears throat)
Sheppard, huh?
Any relation to that doctor
they executed back in the '50s?
Actually, no,
he drank himself to death in the '70s.
But thanks for asking.
(tense eerie music)
Empty your pockets.
So what happened?
Well, we presented our criminalist report
saying essentially that Marilyn
had died in a halo of blood
and that the splatter patterns indicate
that she was struck by a lefthanded assailant.
I'm right-handed. They know that.
They also know that the assailant
had to be covered in blood
and that even if you had washed your clothes in the lake,
you never would've gotten the blood off the belt.
Blood does not wash out of leather.
Bob, all of this came up in the trial.
What about the evidence of a rape?
What about the injury to my neck?
What about the fact that I had no motive for murder?
Well, we made the point that Marilyn's teeth,
if they had been broken by the blows,
the pieces would've been inside her mouth.
As it was, they were found alongside the bed
because she bit him.
When he pulled his arm away,
he literally yanked her teeth out.
It had to be the killer's blood on the stairs.
He was bleeding from the wound that she gave him.
We went through it piece by piece with the judge.
And?
He called it opinion and theory
and insufficient to order a new trial.
This is America, Bob.
Innocent men do not get locked up in prison for life.
Someone gets 'em out.
Do you hear me?
You gotta get me out.
I'm doing the best I can.
How are you doing, son?
I'm okay.
Bob tells me you were a real little man
when Grandpa died.
I didn't get to go to the funeral.
Yeah.
Well, sometimes it's best that way.
How you doing at school?
Okay.
Some older boys took my cap away,
the one that you gave me.
Well, you're just gonna have to stand up for yourself now.
You have to be strong.
You hear me?
Both of us.
We have to be strong for each other.
(loud banging)
No contact. Those are the rules.
How's Mom?
She took an overdose of sleeping pills.
We found her just in time.
Where is she now?
Staying with me,
just like Sam.
Is she gonna be all right?
Well, she's still depressed,
but I suppose that's to be expected.
what with everything coming out of the trial,
and Dad dying the way he did-
You don't think I wouldn't give anything
to have him back?
Period's over!
(alarm ringing)
Visiting hours are now over.
Visiting hours are now over.
(melancholy music)
You and me, Sam.
You and me.
What about the women who are raped and murdered?
What about cops gunned down in the streets?
Don't they deserve some kind of justice?
The truth is our whole system
is set up to protect the criminal
while the victims of their crimes
are virtually ignored.
Excuse me.
But we have a special guest today
and if you wouldn't mind,
I'd like to ask Mr. Sam Sheppard
if he'd like to give us some of his thoughts
on this subject.
(crowd murmuring)
Well, I think
that there are enough victims in our society
without the state creating more
because it's not just the accused or the condemned.
It's his, it's his family,
it's his children
who will believe that somehow it was their fault,
who will go to sleep every night
imagining themselves behind bars
and strapped into the electric chair
screaming to please make it stop,
but it never, never stops.
It never stops.
Sam.
Wait, please.
Look, I didn't mean to put you on the spot.
I just thought that your speaking
would really mean a lot to a lot of people back there.
Well I wish, I wish I hadn't.
Your father's case is still
one of the most important trials in the last 50 years.
I mean, people around here
are still talking about it
like it was last week.
So I assume you're here to reopen the investigation.
No, I'm not here to reopen anything.
As matter of fact,
I expect to be leaving in the next few days.
Yeah, well, okay.
I guess I can understand that,
but if there's ever anything I can do for you,
I'd appreciate it if you give me a call.
Thanks.
(gun bangs)
(gentle morose music)
(gun bangs)
What was that?
I don't know.
Your grandma.
Mrs. Sheppard!
Grandma!
Mrs. Sheppard!
Grandma!
Mrs Sheppard!
Clearly the effects of this trial,
the death of her husband,
the revelation of her son's many infidelities
ultimately led this proud and religious woman
to take her own life,
devastating the Sheppard family,
once considered to be among Cleveland's most respected
and dealing a blow a Dr. Sam Sheppard,
who was placed under a suicide watch
at the local penitentiary
before being permitted to attend his mother's funeral.
(Sam sniffling)
Stop it.
But it was my fault.
If I had woken up the night that my mom got killed,
none of this would be happening.
It was not your fault.
Your grandma was a coward.
Only cowards kill themselves.
Do you understand me?
There will be no cowards in this house.
(melancholy music)
I know it's not much of a present,
but happy birthday, son.
See, it's you and me.
Just the two of us out on the water
like we used to.
It's beautiful.
Yeah, well,
I figure you're getting too old for toys.
So how are you doing?
Don't worry.
I'm not letting these bastards beat me.
Well, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know
that I've enrolled Sam in the Mercer Military Academy.
What?
It's the best thing for the boy.
It'll give him a chance to be on his own,
away from all this.
Oh, this isn't for your sake.
It's for the boy's.
Well, how do you feel about this, Sam?
Do you wanna get shipped off to some prison?
I don't know.
Well I do.
And you're not going to any damn military school.
I'm sorry you feel that way, Sam,
but the decision's been made.
Well, this is quite a moment for you, isn't it, Robert?
You finally get your chance to get back
for all those years I made you look stupid.
You finally get your revenge.
This conversation is over.
Wait, don't take him away from me.
He's my son!
But he's my responsibility.
Just like the rest of the mess
I'm expected to clean up.
Well I got news for you, Sam.
I'm gonna do what I think is best
and you're just gonna have to live with it.
(dramatic music)
Dad!
Be strong.
(gentle music)
Someone from the academy will meet the train
and help get you squared away.
Well, I guess that's it then.
I did the best I could, Sam.
I hope one day you'll understand.
(train horn blaring)
You wanted to go, didn't you?
I don't know.
You don't know?
All right, I wanted to go.
I wanted to go someplace where I wasn't a freak,
where people weren't staring at me.
At last, honesty.
What, now I'm supposed to feel guilty,
is that it?
Who said you're supposed to feel guilty?
I loved you.
I knew I was breaking your heart.
You were a kid.
You were fighting for your life.
You think I don't understand?
You were fighting for your life.
(tense music)
Dad.
(phone beeping)
Mr. Gilbert.
Hi, it's Sam R. Sheppard.
(bell rings)
What made you change your mind?
I want it to end.
The lies, rumors.
I wanna know who killed my mother.
During the trial,
the prosecution and the corner
withheld huge amounts of evidence,
possibly evidence that could have cleared my father.
The only way I can get access to it
is by suing under the Freedom of Information Act.
Well, I guess I can handle that.
Look, I know you normally charge for your time,
but I guarantee you,
this case will give you enough notoriety-
No, I'm not worried about the money, Sam.
What are you worried about?
Well, the other day at the City Club?
The subject is still raw for you.
I can handle it.
If it turns out your father
really was the murderer,
will you be able to handle that?
(militaristic music)
Left, right.
Dear Dad,
I'm honored to inform you
that I've been elected senior class president.
I say this in all modesty,
because while there are several
other qualified candidates,
none can claim a father
who is as much of an inspiration as you are to me.
I live each day as though you were watching me
and I stay strong because I know you are strong
and fighting on because of me.
But I must ask if everything is all right with you.
I've noticed your letters arriving less frequently
and I can't help but wonder
if something has happened.
Sam, could I have a moment?
I have a feeling no one's told you about this,
but there's a woman who's coming to see you
and she says she's your mother.
What?
Yeah, I'm not so clear on it myself,
but apparently your father met her through letters.
She's from Germany.
But I understand she's arranging
to immigrate to the US to marry him.
Where is he?
As well as pay
for a new appeal.
Where is my child?
(Ariane laughing)
Oh, where is my son?
Darling, it's me.
Ariane.
Nice to meet you.
Well, is that all you can say?
After all, I'm gonna be your new mother.
No, you're not.
Don't ever say of that to me again.
Of course.
You're not a boy anymore.
You're a big, strong man.
(melancholy music)
(car door clicks)
Ariane.
Sam.
I just wanted to say goodbye.
Are you going back to Europe?
Yeah.
What will you do with all this?
I don't know.
I'm hoping that somewhere there's a key
or a clue.
Wouldn't it be better just to get on with our lives?
Someday.
Good luck.
Thanks.
Oh, have you been back to your old house?
No, I haven't.
Why?
It's been sold again.
It's a new owner as well.
They're going to demolish it.
I thought you'd want to know that.
Thanks.
Take care.
You give Ariane my letter?
Yes.
They thought they had me beat,
cutting me off, restricting my mail.
Stupid bastards.
It never occurred to 'em
I could go through you.
I guess not.
What's the matter?
You said you didn't mind.
Well, I guess I thought
at least some of your letters would be to me,
not just filth I have to decode for your girlfriend.
Oh, well, I didn't mean to offend
your delicate sensibilities.
This woman happens to be something special to me
and if you can't handle it-
I didn't say that.
Oh no, you're too refined.
You're not like the rest of us sex crazed commoners.
You're a military man.
Look at you in this monkey suit.
What are you, some kind of faggot?
(melancholy music)
Oh, god, Sam.
I didn't mean to hurt you like that.
Here, let me see those hands.
Come on.
Oh, yeah.
I can see it.
These are special hands, Sam.
These hands are gonna save lives someday.
You'll see.
Hey, who knows?
Maybe you and I could end up as a team.
You go to med school and I get released.
It could happen.
You'll see.
I am gonna be a doctor again.
(melancholy music continues)
Talk to me.
You should go talk to Ariane.
Very good.
You should go to hell.
Why are you so angry?
Look at you.
You're a thug.
You're a pervert.
Getting your son to be the mailman
for your pornographic letters.
Spend 10 years in prison.
See how you come out.
What about before?
The nurses or the lab technicians
or any girl who would spread her legs.
Yeah, so?
So, you make me sick.
You haunt my life like you're some kind of conscience.
Like you push me to see the truth.
Well, I see it!
See what?
You were never a father to me
and you were never a husband to my mother.
Maybe they were right all along.
Maybe I was what everyone said.
Say it, Sam.
No.
Come on.
Accuse me.
Come on, be strong!
Say it!
You killed my mother.
You killed my mother!
You killed her.
You killed (sobbing).
You killed my...
(somber music)
Welcome to the bottom, Sam.
You just met your demon.
Sam!
You okay?
I've been looking everywhere for you.
What's happened?
I got it.
Six boxes of evidence.
It's all sitting in my office.
Gerber, the prosecutor,
they all said there was no sign of a break in,
no forced entry.
Which is why they said it had to be your father.
Listen to this.
There appears to be
a freshly made tool mark
on an outside door that leads to a basement.
The mark appears to have been made
by a chisel or wedge like tool.
That's from the report of Officer Henry Dombrowski,
Cleveland police.
Yeah, here's something else.
A coroner's verdict dated July 4th, 1954,
the day of the murder.
I find that Marilyn Sheppard came to her death
as a result of multiple impacts to the head,
fractures of skull, subdural hemorrhages,
and contusions of the brain.
I find it impossible to believe
the explanation of her husband,
and therefore conclude that Marilyn Sheppard
came to her death as a result of the injuries
caused and inflicted by Dr. Samuel Sheppard.
This was less than 24 hours after the murder
with a fresh trail that could have led
in any number of directions.
You know they didn't want a trail.
They already had their convenient suspect.
A brilliant and arrogant doctor
who stuck to his story 'cause he believed it,
'cause he believed innocent men
don't get sent to prison in this country.
He never figured people would lie
or conceal evidence that would've cleared his name.
Forward, hut.
Spin, hut!
Solute, hut!
Halt!
Sam, Sam!
Your father's been released.
In a stunning development,
the United States Supreme Court
has overturned the conviction of Dr. Samuel Sheppard,
calling it nothing less than a mockery of justice.
The high court concluded
that massive prejudicial publicity,
clear bias on the part of the judge,
and proceedings overrun by the press
together robbed Dr. Sheppard
of any chance at a fair trial.
The only question that remains in freeing Dr. Sheppard,
has the high court returned man to a society
that still, in many ways, believe that he's guilty?
Where's my father?
I don't understand.
The Chicago Tribune paid their expenses
in exchange for exclusive coverage of the wedding.
You mean he's in Chicago?
And then Europe for the honeymoon.
Ariane thought they needed time.
I skipped my graduation to be here.
I know.
Things happened so fast.
But he wanted me to tell you that he's sorry
and he'll see you when he gets back.
(train horn blaring)
Les Hoversten lived several weeks
with your parents?
He was fired from a hospital in Los Angeles.
My father all was trying to help him
get back up on his feet.
It appears he was fired
for making advances toward female patients.
My mother hated him,
but he left the day before the murder.
I think he went to stay the weekend
with some friends in Kent.
Kent's only 30 miles away.
Mm-hmm.
He could have come back the same night he left,
finds the house locked,
breaks in through the basement,
leaves chisel marks on the door,
then he goes upstairs to where
your mother's sleeping-
No, that doesn't make sense.
I mean, he was already living in the house.
If he wanted to assault my mother,
he had plenty of opportunities
without having to break in.
You're forgetting he needed an alibi.
No, you're forgetting
that when the police interviewed Les,
they described him as having
no visible cuts or bruises.
So?
So my mother bit her assailant hard enough
for him to trail blood through the house.
Hard enough for her to break out two of her teeth
and leave her assailant a marked man.
Honey, it's time to carve the turkey.
Let's take a break.
Hmm?
Yeah.
Daddy, Daddy!
Oh, hey guys!
Daddy, Daddy!
What are you doin'?
All right, I can't lift both of ya.
Poor Nero at The Times edition
said "We were both in the same place.
Don't you remember?"
(gentle acoustic music)
Sam, you're keeping our guests waiting.
We're ready to carve the turkey.
(doorbell rings)
(women laughing)
Surprise.
Happy to see us?
Oh, I hope we're not disturbing anything.
Hello, Robert.
Robert, I'd like you to meet some friends of mine.
This is Lou Romano and his beautiful wife, Sandy.
It's Candy.
Oh, whatever.
Lou and I met while we were in prison.
He's a wrestler.
Ain't that right?
Damn right.
Whoa, hey.
This is a hell of a place you got here,
Bobby.
Oh, Robert,
are these your friends?
Hey, nice to meet you.
Maybe good ol' Robert hasn't told you about me.
I am the black sheep of the family.
(Candy and Ariane laughing)
Right?
Sam and Ariane,
I'd like you to meet Russ and Carol Siler.
Russ has a private practice in town.
Oh, really?
It's nice to meet you.
Hello.
And this is Bob
and Eleanor Blanchard.
Bob's a surgeon at Bay View.
Oh really?
Well, well, well.
We'll be seeing a lot of each other.
Nice to meet you, Dr. Sheppard.
Oh, I love what you've done with this decor.
Isn't Bob good at this stuff?
I mean, decor and all this...
(melancholy music)
There he is.
There's my hero.
(Sam Reese laughs)
Hey, hey, hey.
What are you, queer or something?
Sorry.
Yeah, well, with all this hair
you had me worried.
I can see you're a man through and through.
What do you think, Robert?
He came out pretty good, didn't he?
For somebody who got shipped off and forgotten.
I don't suppose you've already had your dinner.
Oh, no.
As a matter of fact, we are a little bit hungry.
Yes.
Of course, if it wouldn't be an inconvenience.
None at all. None at all.
I'll just have Mrs. Avery set four more places.
A 75 year old man walks into the doctor's office
and says, "Doc, I think I'm becoming impenitent."
(Candy and Lou laughing)
And the doctor says,
"Well, when did you notice the symptoms?"
And the old guy says "Yesterday afternoon
and two times last night
and one more time again this morning."
(Lou, Candy, and Ariane laughing)
Oh, what's the matter, Robert?
You don't look like you're having any fun.
What are your plans, Sam?
What are my plans?
Getting my license restored.
Yeah.
Practicing medicine.
And who knows?
Maybe even working with you again.
That is, unless of course
you end up what working for me.
(Ariane laughs)
That's very funny.
Well, I'm a funny guy.
But the main reason I'm here
is because of you.
Because I wanted to tell you
how grateful I am.
Because if it hadn't been for you,
I would've hung myself in that prison a long time ago.
I guess you're taking him with you then, huh?
I mean his stuff's right upstairs.
Just a guitar and some clothes.
Right, Sam?
Well, that's not exactly the way I planned it.
No, Sam.
You understand we're still on a honeymoon here.
It's okay.
I see.
So it's just a little inconvenient right now.
Are you trying to embarrass me, Robert, huh?
Do you want it to look like
I don't want my son with me?
Sam, we only have a one bedroom.
Shut up!
Look, Dad.
It's okay.
I can-
Can what?
Stay here?
Honey, I think it's best-
No, no, no, no, no, no.
You're staying.
We're the ones that are going.
Go on, get your stuff.
You're coming with us.
Sam, but you promised me.
I said he's coming with us!
Go on, go on.
Okay.
Come on.
We don't need this son of a bitch anymore.
Go on.
You know, I've got three witnesses
and each one says your mother
was having an affair with Spen Houk.
You know, I've been hearing that for about 30 years.
Spen Houk was a fat slob
who was 20 years older than my mother.
If she really wanted an affair
she could have done a lot better than Spen.
All I'm saying is he was around
and your mother was alone a lot of the time.
She was lonely
and she knew your father was unfaithful.
That doesn't mean that she was unfaithful too.
All right, let's say she did have an affair.
I mean, what reason would Spen have to kill her?
Maybe because she was pregnant.
She thought it might repair her marriage.
So she told Spen the affair was over.
Only he doesn't want it to end.
So he sneaks back that night,
passes your father asleep on the couch,
makes his way upstairs,
only this time your mother rejects him more forcefully,
screams for your father-
Spen clubs him as he bursts into the room.
I'm telling you, I've heard all this before.
But it could have been Houk.
Yeah, and it could have been the milk man,
but it wasn't because my mother wasn't having an affair.
She died in a halo of blood.
She was raped and bludgeoned,
her face smashed and her skull crushed
and it wasn't Spen Houk and it wasn't Les Hoversten
and I don't know how I know this,
but I know it was somebody else,
somebody we're not seeing.
(upbeat music)
He can hear you!
Good, let him hear!
It's been six months already!
He's my kid.
I want him here with me.
(knocking on door)
If you don't like it,
you can get the hell out!
Oh, you son of a bitch!
If it weren't for my money-
Oh, your money!
I'm sick of your money!
Hey, hey, Dad!
Hey, Dad!
Your money's all gone.
What the hell good are you here?
Dad, Dad!
Can't you leave us alone?
♪ I ain't wasting no stops ♪
♪ Stop your lies ♪
♪ I ain't hesitating ♪
♪ Give me love ♪
♪ 'Cause you can't go wrong ♪
(melancholy music)
(Sam laughing)
You got your license back.
Yes!
Yes, sir!
Don't be nervous.
Don't worry.
They'll take me back.
Why don't you wait here?
Look at my record.
I have saved patients
that other surgeons couldn't even touch.
We have no other choice, Dr. Sheppard.
Your background makes you a liability.
My background?
You're sitting in my father's office.
How is that for background?
These walls, this room.
My father built this hospital.
How's that for background?
Dr. Sheppard, please.
Please what?
Go away.
Pretend I didn't exist.
Pretend I didn't spend 10 years in prison.
Do you have any idea what I lost?
Do you have any idea what it's like
to find your wife in a bed in a pool of blood
raped, and her face beaten beyond recognition?
Your whole life just crumbled
just in few moments.
Jesus.
I'm begging you.
I'm on my knees.
Dad, please.
Don't.
Please.
It's okay. It's okay.
Please, tell them, Sam.
Just tell them I'm innocent.
It's okay.
Come on. Let's go.
It's okay.
I'm sorry, Sam.
I truly am sorry.
(melancholy music)
Every hospital,
every clinic, every doctor in the state,
they all said the same thing.
That is, if they even bothered to let me interview.
Of course, by then you were in Boston.
What was I supposed to do?
Stick around and watch you and Ariane
destroy each other?
I wish you could have seen me, Sam.
Treating patients in a motel room for five bucks a visit.
Diagnosing syphilis, suturing knife wounds,
delivering illegitimate babies.
You should have seen me, Sam.
I couldn't stand to.
I know.
I couldn't stand it myself.
Were Mom and Spen,
you know, having an affair?
I don't know.
Besides, wasn't it you who said
it couldn't be Spen or Hoversten?
Yeah, and I'm not sure anymore.
I'm not sure of anything.
That's because you're forgetting
there was another witness.
I was asleep.
The day before.
You don't remember the day before?
(tense music)
I oughta put you on salary.
But don't get too close to the fireworks.
Yes, sir, Mr. Eberling.
In 1989, Richard Eberling went to prison
for beating an elderly woman to death.
Now in 1959, the same Richard Eberling
was arrested for burglarizing homes.
Now among the stolen items
in his possession at the time of the arrest was a ring,
a ring that belonged to my mother.
Go on.
Turns out, the same Richard Eberling
owned a window washing business.
In fact, he was working for my parents
around the time that my mother was murdered.
I mean, I remember him.
You sure?
When he's arrested in '59,
5 years after my mother was murdered,
do you know what he tells the cops?
My blood may be in the house
where Marilyn Sheppard was murdered.
He was abandoned at birth.
He suffered seizures, memory losses.
He bilks his foster parents out of thousands of dollars.
Now in 1956,
he's driving with his girlfriend
when his car ends up in a crash
that kills her instantly,
but miraculously, he walks away.
Now this girlfriend, by the way,
just happens to be the nurse
that treated my father's injuries
the day of the murder.
You think Eberling was dating her
because of her connection to the case?
I think Eberling was obsessed with my family,
with my father's lifestyle,
and with my mother's beauty.
And that's why he broke into Robert's house
to steal the ring that he didn't get
the night he murdered my mother.
And nearly tore her finger off trying.
So now it's the 60's
and Eberling's working as a live-in caretaker
for a wealthy widow named Ethel May Durkin
and he's managed to get himself included in her will.
But when she starts suspecting his motives,
she ends up dead, clubbed in the back of the head,
but made to look like she accidentally fell down the stairs.
So he inherits her money.
Yeah, except for Ethel's two sisters
who are also her heirs.
And do you wanna know what happened to them?
The first one dies,
supposedly falling down a flight of stairs.
And if that doesn't sound familiar enough,
the second one is found bludgeoned to death,
her head and face smashed,
her nightgown ripped down the front,
just like my mother.
And Eberling's only conviction
was for the murder of Ethel May.
Yeah.
His lawyer has arranged for me
to meet him in prison.
Want me to come with you?
Nope.
I've been in prisons before.
(brooding music)
The prison of knowing,
the prison of waiting,
until the iron bars melt away
and all that's left in the last light of day
is you and me and our dreams gone by
in the shadows set free like my mother's sigh.
That was a beautiful poem.
Thanks.
Do you mind if I ask where it came from?
Well, I guess it's a part of me
I'm trying to let out.
What year are you in?
Sophomore. You?
Yeah, same.
Hey, hey, you wanna go out for a cup of coffee or-
Hey, Sam.
Hey, man.
Is this your father?
Killer Sheppard wrestling at the Civic?
Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.
It's okay.
Okay, so give me a call later, okay?
Don't let it get to you, man.
If you'd rather be alone, I-
No, no, no, no.
It's okay.
I'm just never ready when the next thing hits, you know.
Are you gonna go see him?
(crowd cheering)
Ladies and gentlemen,
Killer Sheppard!
And our very own Boston Bruiser!
(Sam screams)
Come on, come on!
Shut up, man.
(Boston Bruiser grunts)
(Boston Bruiser grunts)
(melancholy music)
Come on!
Yeah!
Come on, you hate me!
Come on!
(Sam screaming)
Ladies and gentlemen!
What the hell is this?
This is $220.
I don't know who you think you're messing with.
We've worked together before
and all I expect is a little bit,
a little bit of respect.
Shut up, Candy.
Oh, well!
Why are you doing this?
You could have called me.
They're taking good care of me.
Yeah.
You owe us 7030.
They're the only friends I've got.
Shut up!
I've got nowhere else to go.
I don't wanna hear it.
Look, you can stay with me a while.
Shut up.
Listen, listen.
You mean it?
Like before?
Come on, let's get outta here.
Listen, listen.
Listen, listen, I've had enough.
Dad, this is Alyssa.
This is my father.
Hi.
Hi.
Well, doing something right I see.
She's just a friend.
Oh, well then you're doing something wrong.
(Alyssa laughs)
Come one. Let's get a drink.
(car horn honks)
(upbeat rock music)
(people chattering)
♪ You're walking through this promised land ♪
♪ You never know what happiness you'll find ♪
I'm sorry.
♪ Open your mind ♪
Sam.
I'm sorry.
Just get out.
I just, just came to...
♪ Here and unwind ♪
Sam, look, I'm so sorry.
♪ Blow our little world apart ♪
I was just having a little fun with her, that's all.
♪ Close your eyes and count to 10 ♪
♪ It doesn't matter how or when you've been ♪
Here, let me help.
Dad!
Don't throw me out.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna be good.
Come on.
You're not gonna let a girl come between us.
Look, it's not the girl.
It's just not working.
Oh, yeah.
It's all right.
You gotta have your own life.
I remember.
Look, look, you wanna think I'm the bastard, fine.
No, it's just, it's me.
I just can't help myself from screwing things up. (laughing)
You wanna put me in a half Nelson, huh?
Come here.
(Sam laughing)
(gentle somber music)
Call me when you're back, honey.
Ladies and gentlemen,
may I have your attention, please.
Coach 9297 departs for Cleveland in five minutes.
927 departs for Cleveland in five minutes.
(gentle somber music continues)
Hey, Dad.
It's time.
This is for you.
You call Robert when you get into town.
Yes, sir.
Right away, sir.
Dad.
I will, I will.
Here's your ticket.
Here.
That's all I got.
You have beautiful hands.
Did I ever tell you that?
Hey, good luck.
Richard Eberling.
So we meet again.
Last time I saw you you were just a little tad.
That's right.
Now you're here 'cause you think I did it.
The ugly outsider, the dirty commoner.
It had to be me 'cause it couldn't possibly
have been that golden boy surgeon, could it?
Well, I didn't...
I didn't expect you to confess.
Yeah, well, I could tell you what really happened
if I thought you could take it.
You see, when you work in folks' houses,
you come across some dirty secrets.
Yeah.
Yeah, go ahead.
Turn your little recorder on.
See, it was the day before the murder.
I was cleaning windows in your folks' house
when I heard Esther Houk screaming at your mother upstairs.
"If you don't stay away from my husband,
I'm gonna kill you."
See, Esther was insanely jealous of her husband.
And she was half out of her mind
in between her medication
and her drinking problems.
And she just knew that your mother and Spen
were flaunting it right under her nose.
So she decided to come back later that night
and put a stop to it.
What she had, see,
was this iron patty shell maker
and what she did, see,
was stand by that bed where your mother,
you beautiful mother, just lay there, you know?
And then this rage
started filling up inside her.
And then she just started wailing away.
(Richard imitates banging)
Of course your dad hears the screams
but by the time he gets up the stairs,
all he sees is Esther covered in blood
and moaning like an animal.
So he called Spen and the two of them
cook up this story about some bushy-haired intruder,
which would've held up if that coroner Gerber
hadn't gone after your father.
And then if good old Spen hadn't jumped on the bandwagon,
you know, to keep his own dirty little secrets hid.
How was it that your blood was in the house?
Like I said, I was cleaning the windows the day before
and I cut my finger on that one in the kitchen.
You remember that window, don't you, Chip?
You know what I think?
I think you're a liar.
(Richard chuckles)
I'm sure you'd like to believe that.
And that scar,
didn't you get that when my mother bit you?
Wrong.
You didn't trail blood through the house
as you ran out?
Wrong again.
You killed my mother
just like you killed Ethel Durkin.
Wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Well, we'll see.
(melancholy music)
Sam, I've been trying to get you.
I called the school,
but they said you'd stopped going.
Robert, how did he die?
The paper didn't say.
They found him on the floor of his apartment.
He'd been drinking and taking pain pills, I guess.
They said he'd been going downhill for a while.
They said he had a bunch of dead flowers in his hand.
You're going to have to stand up for yourself.
You have to be strong.
Who knows?
Maybe you and I could end up as a team.
You go to med school.
I get released.
It could happen.
I'm going to be
a doctor again.
I think it best
you not go to the funeral.
You'd be surrounded by reporters.
You'd never stand a chance.
The head and face
bloodied by some 35 blows.
Well they're gonna kill him, Sam R. Sheppard!
They're gonna fry your daddy in the electric chair.
No fractures.
Killer Sheppard gonna die.
Broken nose.
Killer Sheppard gonna fry.
Two broken teeth.
The murder weapon was a surgical instrument.
The kind an osteopath might use.
You have beautiful hands, Chip.
These hands have greatness in them.
Always remember that.
You have a special gift in these hands.
Do you know what it's like to come home
and find your wife in a bed in a pool of blood.
Magical powers, to heal people like Daddy.
Chip was my nickname.
My real name is Sam R. Sheppard, just like my father.
Your grandma was a coward.
Only cowards kill themselves.
'Cause if it hadn't been for you,
I would've hung myself in that prison.
Well done, son.
Well, I guess today is the day.
I guess so.
You know, I'll be happy to drive you to the airport.
Oh no, that's okay.
I already called the cab.
How do you feel?
Fine.
You got all your things,
your medications?
Yes.
Well, I imagine the weather will be nice
in Boston at this time of the a year.
Have you thought about what you're gonna do
when you get there?
Well, a friend of mine's a dental hygienist.
He says it's a pretty good job.
Helping people, using my hands.
I think I have good hands.
Sam, the past is the past.
As your doctor and your uncle,
I strongly advise you, don't go back.
It's dangerous for you.
Do you understand?
(melancholy music)
Like I said, I was cleaning the windows
the day before and I cut my finger
on the one in the kitchen.
You remember that window, don't you?
He's a liar.
He never actually worked at my parents' house.
His assistant did and his name is Vern Lund.
So the only possible explanation
where Eberling's blood was inside your house-
Was because he killed my mother.
I want you to contact Eberling's attorney.
If his client's as innocent as he claims,
they'll have no trouble getting us
a blood sample for comparison.
Yeah, but a comparison to what?
We don't have any blood from the scene of the crime.
Yes, we do.
We have
a drop of blood from my parents' house.
Now I gotta go find Lund.
I remember 'cause it was so different.
See, I was only 18.
So he worked with me on every job
except your folk's house.
He had me do that one myself.
So, do you mind?
No, no, go ahead.
So he was never inside the house?
Oh yes, sir, he was
'cause he gave the estimate.
That meant going inside and counting windows.
I'm sure he was all through the house.
And what happened next?
Well, that was strange too
'cause your mom,
her murder,
it happened over the weekend
and I still hadn't heard about it 'til Monday
when I was in the car with Eberling
and he told me your mom got raped and killed
and that only he knowed who did it.
And it shocked me.
I mean, it really shocked me
'cause I'd just been there the Friday before.
She'd been so nice to me.
And what did you do?
Well, I guess it just scared me.
So I quit working for him the next day
and tried to put the whole thing outta my mind.
The police never interviewed you about this?
Oh yes, sir, they did.
And I told 'em all I'm telling you now.
And when Eberling was on trial
for murdering that widow,
I contacted the same police department again.
See, I saw a connection,
the way that woman died
and the way your poor mother died.
But the police,
they never did anything about it.
Any luck with Lund?
I'm coming back with a signed affidavit.
I think you'll find it very interesting.
What about Eberling?
No, he's refusing to cooperate.
The chance of us getting a court order
to force him are slim and none,
especially with only one drop
of unidentified blood to base a comparison on.
Okay.
I'll get back to you.
Okay, bye.
Okay.
(phone beeps)
It's a pleasure to meet you.
Thank you for seeing me, Dr. Balraj.
How can I help you?
Well, during my father's trials,
none of the state's evidence
was ever made available to my family.
We are talking about a trial
that took place over 40 years ago.
Yes, but this wasn't just an ordinary case.
Your predecessor, Dr. Gerber,
hated my father and everything he stood for
and after doing everything he could to destroy him,
Dr. Gerber still refused to release his reports.
Well Mr. Sheppard, even if that's true,
I still don't see what this has to do with me.
Well, for years there have been rumors of a vault.
Materials, evidence that Dr. Gerber
kept under his personal lock and key.
And even though I filed under Freedom of Information,
I have yet to receive a single document
in response to that suit.
Are you accusing me of withholding evidence?
No, Dr. Balraj.
I'm in no position to accuse anyone.
Because, you see,
if I can't produce any more evidence,
my mother's murderer will never face justice
and I will have to live the rest of my life
knowing that I failed her.
So, really, I'm here to beg you.
If you know of anything in the archives or warehouse...
I'll let you know.
Thank you.
Your Honor,
we base our petition on three issues.
First, the massive misconduct by the state
throughout Dr. Sheppard's 1954 trial.
Second, that evidence
which could have exonerated Dr. Sheppard
was deliberately excluded by the prosecution.
And lastly, the discovery of Richard Eberling,
who's a much more likely suspect
than Dr. Sheppard eve was.
But even if I order Mr. Eberling
to submit to a blood draw,
isn't it true that the only thing you have
to compare with his sample
is a single drop of blood in a vial from a garage?
Your Honor, it was in a box of my father's belongings
in an envelope marked evidence from the coroner's office.
But you have no proof of this, correct?
No chain of evidence, no authentication.
You have no idea where this drop of blood
may have been all these years.
Your Honor, if I might approach.
If you have something to add to these proceedings,
please identify yourself to the court.
For the record,
my name is Elizabeth Balraj
and I am the Cuyahoga County coroner.
After a thorough investigation by my department,
a vault of information was discovered
belonging to this case.
This is a partial list of its contents,
including some 91 evidence envelopes
consisting of blood, vaginal swabs,
fingernail scrapings, hair samples, et cetera.
All of which I am recommending
be made available to the plaintiff
for DNA testing in this case.
All right.
Given this basis for comparison,
I'm ordering a blood sample
be taken from Mr. Eberling.
It wasn't Marilyn's Sheppard blood
and it wasn't Dr. Sheppard's blood
because we know he wasn't bleeding.
No, it was the murderer's blood.
It was Richard Eberling's blood
on the stairs, on the porch,
his DNA in the sperm, Richard Eberling's DNA.
This is the same Richard Eberling
convicted of theft and burglary.
The same Eberling convicted of forging a will and perjury.
The same Richard Eberling
convicted for the murder of Ethel May Durkin
and suspected in the murder of several others.
His blood, his sperm,
his pattern of violence
over and over and over again.
Therefore, Your Honor,
we demand nothing less than a declaration of innocence
granted to the deceased Dr. Sheppard
and an indictment of Richard Eberling
for the murder of Marilyn Sheppard.
Well.
Well, I think we can all sympathize with the plaintiff.
My god.
Sam.
Your Honor-
Sam, Sam, I know you mean well.
Mr. Sheppard, if you have something
to say to this court...
Yes, Your Honor.
My father wasn't not guilty.
My father was innocent
and he told that truth over and over and over again
and no one listened.
Not the press,
that assumed it had to be him
and then made sure he was punished accordingly,
not the city that turned into a lynch mob,
and not the courts that turned his trial
into a witch hunt.
You know, and even, even today, even in this court,
we're just as sure that he did it
because he was so cocky,
because he had affairs.
I mean, it must have been him
because our system of justice
doesn't destroy a human being
just because he's a convenient target.
But that's,
that's what happened.
My father was an innocent man.
But the cops, the courts,
and the people of the state
decided that he had to pay
and they took away his freedom and his pride
and they took away his family
and his career.
And in so doing,
they put my father to death
just as sure as Richard Eberling
beat my mother to death.
And why can no one admit they made a mistake?
No one says, "We're sorry, Dr. Sheppard.
You were right.
You were telling the truth all along."
Well I'm here telling the truth.
And I only wish my father could hear this.
And I only wish my mother could see,
because when it comes to the sympathy of this court,
I swear that the people who took the lives of my parents
will be made responsible
and I will not rest until that justice is done.
(melancholy music)
So what are your plans?
Well, I've decided to work
to abolish the death penalty.
I leave next week for a demonstration walk
from Boston to New Orleans.
And after that?
Well, we'll have to see, won't we?
(Terry chuckles)
You're quite a guy, Sam.
You too.
I couldn't have done any of this without you.
Oh, I don't know.
I think you could have done it all without me.
Terry.
I wanna thank you for being my lawyer
and being my friend.
Thanks.
It's an honor, Sam.
Truly an honor.
(melancholy music continues)
You did it, Sam.
You faced the truth
and you set us both free.
I'm never gonna see you again, am I?
You don't need me anymore.
You're your own man now.
You proved it to yourself.
Now there's no stain.
There's no secret.
There's no shadow to be afraid of.
I just wish it could have believed in you more before.
Believe in yourself, Sam,
and your strength and your courage
and your innocence.
Let me see those hands.
(gentle music)
You're a fine man, Sam,
and I'm proud to be your father.
(melancholy music)
(gentle morose music)
(upbeat music)
(melancholy music)
(waves crashing)
Mom, Mom, I think I found an agate!
Where?
Let's see.
Oh, gee.
That's nifty.
Dad said the Indians believed
agates have special powers.
Oh, yeah?
What kind of powers?
I dunno.
Maybe magical powers
to heal people like Dad.
Maybe.
Yeah.
Race you back to the house.
Come on!
Wait!
(Marilyn and Sam laughing)
(dog barking)
I won.
Yeah, you did, honey.
You're too fast for me.
I'm sorry to bother you, Mrs. Sheppard,
but I left my ladder from yesterday.
Oh, it's no bother.
It's in the basement.
Come on, I'll show you, Mr. Lund.
Shift and I was exhausted.
My wife is gonna kill me when I get home.
How's her signs?
[Anesthesiologist] Stable. 102 over 70.
She says I'm too tired for sex.
Maybe you should give up medicine.
And give up seeing you?
(nurse laughs)
Suction.
Wait.
Damn it.
There's a second tumor up against the basilar artery.
That's not respectable.
We'll have to close.
Hold it.
I can do this.
Sam, you'll kill her.
No, Robert you're wrong.
Narrow retractor and a dissector.
I'm gonna save this girl's life.
I oughta put you on salary.
No, thanks.
I'm gonna be a doctor.
Just like your daddy, huh?
Well, I want you to have a good 4th of July,
but don't get too close to the fireworks.
Yes, sir, Mr. Eberling.
Well, I thought you said you would be home by five.
Oh.
Of course, something always comes up.
Well, there's always some emergency
or some operation.
Meanwhile, I'm stuck in this house
with your friend who refuses to do...
Just remember that your folks said
they might stop by tonight along with the Houk's.
All right.
Love you.
♪ I love you ♪
♪ And I always will ♪
♪ Just why you left me ♪
I just miss him.
That's all.
Me too.
♪ If you ever need me ♪
♪ Just call my name ♪
I know you do.
But he's a very busy man with lots of responsibilities.
He's the best surgeon in the city.
Think he'll be home a lot more
when the new baby comes?
I'm sure he will.
♪ No mountain too high ♪
Okay?
She's going to be fine.
Oh God.
Thank you so much.
Actually, if it hadn't been
for my big brother, Robert,
things might have gone differently.
I'm just glad it all went well.
Oh, thank you.
You can see her once they get her down to intensive care.
Doctor Thomas Green.
Paging Doctor Thomas Green.
You took quite a gamble.
Be happy, Robert.
We just saved to life.
Oh.
Excuse me, Dr. Sheppard.
Rosie.
(sighs) When are you gonna grow up?
I just smiled at her.
That's a refreshing change.
(Sam laughs)
No, it isn't funny, Sam.
You are a member of an important family
with a lot at stake in this hospital.
Excuse me, Dr. Sheppard.
You're wanted in OR three stat.
Accident victim, internal bleeding.
Duty calls.
♪ Baby I gotta know your love ♪
(upbeat dance music)
♪ Come on over and shake and shake ♪
There must be complications.
Well, anything can happen in an operating room.
More coffee, Esther?
Yes, thank you.
Are you dreading getting fat?
She's not getting fat, Esther.
She's pregnant.
(Marilyn laughs)
Thank you, Spen.
It's good to see you and Sam so happy.
Oh, don't tell me you've already had your coffee.
How'd it go?
16 units, A positive,
plus two manual cardiac massages,
but he's stabilized, Ed.
And the pediatric tumor?
Fully conscious.
In fact-
Enough shop talk.
You must be tired.
No, Mom. I'm beat.
Darling.
Hi.
We were starting to worry.
Dad!
Look what I made.
You made this by yourself?
Well, this is excellent work.
Very great attention to detail.
Look at this craftsmanship.
This is beautiful work, Chip.
It's also time you were in bed, young man.
You'll be up late tomorrow with the fireworks.
Let's go.
Goodnight Grandpa, Grandma.
Mr. and Mrs. Houk.
Maybe we'll try it tomorrow.
We'll put it-
Sam.
Can I see you for a minute?
Go on up.
Where were you?
At the hospital.
Where do you think?
You can call if you don't believe me.
I don't need to call.
I know you can cover your tracks.
Marilyn, if you're gonna gimme one of your lectures-
Doesn't it ever stop, Sam?
Don't I ever become enough?
Give me your hand.
(melancholy music)
Do you know what this is?
Yes.
This is a new life.
It's a new chance
for all of us.
I just want us to be happy again.
Please.
Please, Sam.
I love you so much.
Dear God, please bless my mom and dad,
Grandpa and Grandma, and my Uncle Robert.
Amen.
Did you say your prayers?
Yep.
Good boy.
Okay.
Now let me see those hands.
You have beautiful hands, Chip.
These hands have greatness in them.
Always remember that.
You have a special gift in these hands.
Hop in.
(Rob and Sam laughing)
Goodnight, son.
(melancholy music continues)
Jim! Jim, wake up!
You gotta get out of here.
Come on, you don't have time to get dressed.
(ominous music)
Dad!
(camera flashes clicking)
(reporters clamoring)
(camera flash clicks)
(airplane whooshing)
Hey, you all right?
You turned white as a ghost for a second there.
I'm fine, thanks.
You dropped your letter.
Oh.
Thanks.
Sam.
I'm getting rid of your father's things.
If you want any of it,
meet me at the storage building
no later than Wednesday.
Ariane.
Ladies and gentlemen,
the captain turned on the fasten seat belt sign
as we begin our approach into
Cleveland Hopkins International Airport.
Mr. Gilbert.
Thank you.
Mr. Sheppard.
Anything else before we land?
Nope.
None for me. Thanks.
(Terry chuckles)
You know, it's funny,
one of the main reasons I became a lawyer
was 'cause of a guy named Sheppard.
Doctor in the 1950s,
accused of killing his wife in cold blood.
Amazing story.
(baby crying)
Lived right across town from us.
Terry Gilbert.
Sam Sheppard.
You're his son.
Yep.
How long will you been in town?
Not long.
Well, listen, I'm hosting a forum at the city club
on the abolition of the death penalty
and prisoner reform.
If there's any way you could attend.
Sorry, I can't.
Well, are you sure?
No, I'm sorry. I can't.
Just in case you change your mind.
He's going to be living with me for a while.
So we'll have to make some changes.
But, Dr. Sheppard, the boy cries all day.
His mother was murdered less than a week ago, Mrs. Avery.
What do you expect?
But I don't know what to do for him.
Well, he'll be in school most of the day.
And when he's not,
I'll pay whatever overtime is necessary.
But starting now, your duties will include
seeing to the boys' welfare.
Is that clear?
All right.
(knocking on door)
I think it best you not go to the funeral.
You'd be surrounded by reporters.
You'd never stand a chance.
When can I see my father?
I told you, he doesn't want you or Grandma
going to visit him in the jail.
You'll have to wait until he's released.
But what if he isn't?
There are no what ifs.
Your father's innocent
and we're gonna prove that at his trial.
Anyway,
he gave me this for you.
(melancholy music)
You should go to sleep now.
We're here today to witness
the burial of Marilyn Sheppard,
the victim of perhaps the most brutal crime
in this city's history.
Meanwhile, as evidence continues to mount
against the flamboyant Dr. Samuel Sheppard,
a clearer and clearer picture emerges
of a gifted neurosurgeon
who saw himself above the law.
A womanizer who drove an exotic sports car.
A well to-do osteopath
who shunned the norms of polite society.
This is the same man who asks us now
to believe the unbelievable.
That he fell asleep on the couch that night
and awoke hours later to hear his wife screaming.
That's when he says he ran up the stairs.
Well that's when he says
he saw a white form standing beside his wife's bed.
That's when he says everything went black.
You see, Dr. Sheppard wants us to believe
that the mysterious stranger
clubbed him on the back of the neck.
He wants us to believe
that after regaining consciousness,
he ran down the stairs-
You mustn't.
Grandma.
Chasing the mystery man,
with bushy hair, fled to the lake shore
where Dr. Sheppard supposedly passed out again.
Hello, Ariane.
I'm glad you came.
How are you?
Old.
Not so pretty anymore.
And you?
I'm working as a dental hygienist,
living in Boston.
I guess I'm doing okay.
Good.
I have no money, Sam,
not for keeping these things.
These are the letters that you sent him in prison.
(sirens wailing in distance)
What is it, Sam?
She died on this blanket.
(melancholy music)
(reporters clamoring)
Court floor is in session in five minutes.
(onlookers clamoring)
Everything's gonna work out, Sam.
I accompanied Dr. Sheppard to the hospital
where he was examined by his father and brother.
And what did you see of the examination?
Well, I didn't see much.
The family did their best to keep him away
like they were protecting him.
Objection.
Overruled.
Did you make any statements at that time
regarding Dr. Sheppard's condition?
I told him, "I think you killed your wife."
Objection, your honor!
(onlookers clamoring)
(gavel banging)
Order!
He said they had made an arrangement.
She let him have his affairs
and he promised to keep up appearances for her.
And now, Mr. Houk,
but was Marilyn content
with her husband's swinging lifestyle?
No.
She cried on my shoulder many a time
and I know she was hoping that her pregnancy
would change him,
but we all knew that he'd never stop cheating.
Objection.
Overruled.
Always overruled.
This isn't a trial.
It's a lynch mob!
Dad, please.
(gavel banging)
I refuse to be a party to this.
I refuse.
Order!
(reporters clamoring)
We met at the clinic where I was a lab technician.
And after a certain point,
your friendship with Dr. Sheppard became sexual.
Yes.
How many times a week
would you and Dr. Sheppard meet for sex, Ms. Hayes?
Two or three times a week.
(onlookers laughing)
And where did these sex acts take place?
In his car.
The Jaguar or in the Lincoln.
And sometimes in the apartment
he kept over the clinic.
Judge Blythin, what are his chances?
In my court, not good.
Sam Sheppard's guilty as hell.
He'll come apart if we put him on the stand.
Well, what's the alternative?
Sit silent in a rigged trial
where they won't let us back into Sam's house,
where they keep us from the evidence,
where they won't let us see the police reports,
and all the while,
the press get to tear my family apart
like a piece of meat?
Did you know about his affairs?
Oh, I don't know.
Maybe.
So what if I did?
He's on trial for murder, not arrogance.
I'm not so sure.
Look, Robert, I share your frustrations.
No, you don't.
Your father's not lying in a hospital fighting for his life
and your brother's not already
halfway strapped into the electric chair.
She was found with her pajama pants pulled down
and her pajama top pushed up,
exposing the anterior chest and pelvis.
The head and the face bloodied
by some 35 blows
ranging from four large gashes
to the upper right forehead,
skull fractures, broken nose,
two broken teeth.
And although the murder weapon
has not yet been found,
have you made a determination as to its nature?
Objection.
Your Honor, he's asking him to guess.
Overruled.
The witness may answer.
I'm convinced the murder weapon
was a surgical instrument.
The kind an osteopath might use,
with tooth like serrations crushing the skull
as you see here.
Stop it.
Please, stop.
Please, stop it.
(Sam sobbing)
Yeah!
(brooding music)
Going to the execution, Chip?
Don't call me that anymore.
Why not? It's still your name, isn't it?
Chip was my nickname.
My real name is Sam R. Sheppard,
just like my father.
Well they're gonna kill him, Sam R. Sheppard.
They're gonna fry your daddy in the electric chair.
Killer Sheppard gonna die.
Killer Sheppard gonna fry!
Killer Sheppard gonna die!
Killer Sheppard gonna fry!
Yeah! Yeah!
(brooding music continues)
(gavel banging)
Order!
(camera flash clicks)
Order!
We find the defendant, Dr. Samuel Holmes Sheppard,
guilty of murder in the second degree.
(crowd cheering)
(onlookers clamoring)
Dad! Dad!
Dad!
Well, well, well.
You had quite a day, didn't you?
Why don't you go haunt someone else?
You don't feel like talking tonight?
Not to a man who's been dead over 25 years.
Never stopped you before.
Oh yeah.
This is a little different, isn't it, Chip?
Would you stop calling me that?
Why?
You're just a little boy, aren't you?
Still scared,
still living in one room apartments
without a life, without a purpose.
Why don't you leave me alone?
Tired of talking to ghosts?
You wanna start being a man?
Oh, I'm a man, all right.
I'm a man whose father-
What?
Go on.
I'm a man whose father
was wrongfully convicted of killing my mother.
Gee, that has a real practiced ring to it, Chip.
What do you want from me?
I'm here, aren't I?
I mean, I came back to Cleveland.
Yeah, but tomorrow you're gonna run
just like you always do
when the going gets tough.
All right, you've made your little speech.
No, this time is different.
You turn your back this time,
you'll spend the rest of your life
in this hell with me.
Or you can decide if you've got the guts
to go to the bottom and look at the truth.
The truth about you.
The truth about me.
The truth about what happened that night.
(brooding music)
Excuse me.
If I wanna stay an extra day or two,
would that be possible?
Well, I'd need to rerun your credit card.
(Sam clears throat)
Sheppard, huh?
Any relation to that doctor
they executed back in the '50s?
Actually, no,
he drank himself to death in the '70s.
But thanks for asking.
(tense eerie music)
Empty your pockets.
So what happened?
Well, we presented our criminalist report
saying essentially that Marilyn
had died in a halo of blood
and that the splatter patterns indicate
that she was struck by a lefthanded assailant.
I'm right-handed. They know that.
They also know that the assailant
had to be covered in blood
and that even if you had washed your clothes in the lake,
you never would've gotten the blood off the belt.
Blood does not wash out of leather.
Bob, all of this came up in the trial.
What about the evidence of a rape?
What about the injury to my neck?
What about the fact that I had no motive for murder?
Well, we made the point that Marilyn's teeth,
if they had been broken by the blows,
the pieces would've been inside her mouth.
As it was, they were found alongside the bed
because she bit him.
When he pulled his arm away,
he literally yanked her teeth out.
It had to be the killer's blood on the stairs.
He was bleeding from the wound that she gave him.
We went through it piece by piece with the judge.
And?
He called it opinion and theory
and insufficient to order a new trial.
This is America, Bob.
Innocent men do not get locked up in prison for life.
Someone gets 'em out.
Do you hear me?
You gotta get me out.
I'm doing the best I can.
How are you doing, son?
I'm okay.
Bob tells me you were a real little man
when Grandpa died.
I didn't get to go to the funeral.
Yeah.
Well, sometimes it's best that way.
How you doing at school?
Okay.
Some older boys took my cap away,
the one that you gave me.
Well, you're just gonna have to stand up for yourself now.
You have to be strong.
You hear me?
Both of us.
We have to be strong for each other.
(loud banging)
No contact. Those are the rules.
How's Mom?
She took an overdose of sleeping pills.
We found her just in time.
Where is she now?
Staying with me,
just like Sam.
Is she gonna be all right?
Well, she's still depressed,
but I suppose that's to be expected.
what with everything coming out of the trial,
and Dad dying the way he did-
You don't think I wouldn't give anything
to have him back?
Period's over!
(alarm ringing)
Visiting hours are now over.
Visiting hours are now over.
(melancholy music)
You and me, Sam.
You and me.
What about the women who are raped and murdered?
What about cops gunned down in the streets?
Don't they deserve some kind of justice?
The truth is our whole system
is set up to protect the criminal
while the victims of their crimes
are virtually ignored.
Excuse me.
But we have a special guest today
and if you wouldn't mind,
I'd like to ask Mr. Sam Sheppard
if he'd like to give us some of his thoughts
on this subject.
(crowd murmuring)
Well, I think
that there are enough victims in our society
without the state creating more
because it's not just the accused or the condemned.
It's his, it's his family,
it's his children
who will believe that somehow it was their fault,
who will go to sleep every night
imagining themselves behind bars
and strapped into the electric chair
screaming to please make it stop,
but it never, never stops.
It never stops.
Sam.
Wait, please.
Look, I didn't mean to put you on the spot.
I just thought that your speaking
would really mean a lot to a lot of people back there.
Well I wish, I wish I hadn't.
Your father's case is still
one of the most important trials in the last 50 years.
I mean, people around here
are still talking about it
like it was last week.
So I assume you're here to reopen the investigation.
No, I'm not here to reopen anything.
As matter of fact,
I expect to be leaving in the next few days.
Yeah, well, okay.
I guess I can understand that,
but if there's ever anything I can do for you,
I'd appreciate it if you give me a call.
Thanks.
(gun bangs)
(gentle morose music)
(gun bangs)
What was that?
I don't know.
Your grandma.
Mrs. Sheppard!
Grandma!
Mrs. Sheppard!
Grandma!
Mrs Sheppard!
Clearly the effects of this trial,
the death of her husband,
the revelation of her son's many infidelities
ultimately led this proud and religious woman
to take her own life,
devastating the Sheppard family,
once considered to be among Cleveland's most respected
and dealing a blow a Dr. Sam Sheppard,
who was placed under a suicide watch
at the local penitentiary
before being permitted to attend his mother's funeral.
(Sam sniffling)
Stop it.
But it was my fault.
If I had woken up the night that my mom got killed,
none of this would be happening.
It was not your fault.
Your grandma was a coward.
Only cowards kill themselves.
Do you understand me?
There will be no cowards in this house.
(melancholy music)
I know it's not much of a present,
but happy birthday, son.
See, it's you and me.
Just the two of us out on the water
like we used to.
It's beautiful.
Yeah, well,
I figure you're getting too old for toys.
So how are you doing?
Don't worry.
I'm not letting these bastards beat me.
Well, I'm sure you'll be pleased to know
that I've enrolled Sam in the Mercer Military Academy.
What?
It's the best thing for the boy.
It'll give him a chance to be on his own,
away from all this.
Oh, this isn't for your sake.
It's for the boy's.
Well, how do you feel about this, Sam?
Do you wanna get shipped off to some prison?
I don't know.
Well I do.
And you're not going to any damn military school.
I'm sorry you feel that way, Sam,
but the decision's been made.
Well, this is quite a moment for you, isn't it, Robert?
You finally get your chance to get back
for all those years I made you look stupid.
You finally get your revenge.
This conversation is over.
Wait, don't take him away from me.
He's my son!
But he's my responsibility.
Just like the rest of the mess
I'm expected to clean up.
Well I got news for you, Sam.
I'm gonna do what I think is best
and you're just gonna have to live with it.
(dramatic music)
Dad!
Be strong.
(gentle music)
Someone from the academy will meet the train
and help get you squared away.
Well, I guess that's it then.
I did the best I could, Sam.
I hope one day you'll understand.
(train horn blaring)
You wanted to go, didn't you?
I don't know.
You don't know?
All right, I wanted to go.
I wanted to go someplace where I wasn't a freak,
where people weren't staring at me.
At last, honesty.
What, now I'm supposed to feel guilty,
is that it?
Who said you're supposed to feel guilty?
I loved you.
I knew I was breaking your heart.
You were a kid.
You were fighting for your life.
You think I don't understand?
You were fighting for your life.
(tense music)
Dad.
(phone beeping)
Mr. Gilbert.
Hi, it's Sam R. Sheppard.
(bell rings)
What made you change your mind?
I want it to end.
The lies, rumors.
I wanna know who killed my mother.
During the trial,
the prosecution and the corner
withheld huge amounts of evidence,
possibly evidence that could have cleared my father.
The only way I can get access to it
is by suing under the Freedom of Information Act.
Well, I guess I can handle that.
Look, I know you normally charge for your time,
but I guarantee you,
this case will give you enough notoriety-
No, I'm not worried about the money, Sam.
What are you worried about?
Well, the other day at the City Club?
The subject is still raw for you.
I can handle it.
If it turns out your father
really was the murderer,
will you be able to handle that?
(militaristic music)
Left, right.
Dear Dad,
I'm honored to inform you
that I've been elected senior class president.
I say this in all modesty,
because while there are several
other qualified candidates,
none can claim a father
who is as much of an inspiration as you are to me.
I live each day as though you were watching me
and I stay strong because I know you are strong
and fighting on because of me.
But I must ask if everything is all right with you.
I've noticed your letters arriving less frequently
and I can't help but wonder
if something has happened.
Sam, could I have a moment?
I have a feeling no one's told you about this,
but there's a woman who's coming to see you
and she says she's your mother.
What?
Yeah, I'm not so clear on it myself,
but apparently your father met her through letters.
She's from Germany.
But I understand she's arranging
to immigrate to the US to marry him.
Where is he?
As well as pay
for a new appeal.
Where is my child?
(Ariane laughing)
Oh, where is my son?
Darling, it's me.
Ariane.
Nice to meet you.
Well, is that all you can say?
After all, I'm gonna be your new mother.
No, you're not.
Don't ever say of that to me again.
Of course.
You're not a boy anymore.
You're a big, strong man.
(melancholy music)
(car door clicks)
Ariane.
Sam.
I just wanted to say goodbye.
Are you going back to Europe?
Yeah.
What will you do with all this?
I don't know.
I'm hoping that somewhere there's a key
or a clue.
Wouldn't it be better just to get on with our lives?
Someday.
Good luck.
Thanks.
Oh, have you been back to your old house?
No, I haven't.
Why?
It's been sold again.
It's a new owner as well.
They're going to demolish it.
I thought you'd want to know that.
Thanks.
Take care.
You give Ariane my letter?
Yes.
They thought they had me beat,
cutting me off, restricting my mail.
Stupid bastards.
It never occurred to 'em
I could go through you.
I guess not.
What's the matter?
You said you didn't mind.
Well, I guess I thought
at least some of your letters would be to me,
not just filth I have to decode for your girlfriend.
Oh, well, I didn't mean to offend
your delicate sensibilities.
This woman happens to be something special to me
and if you can't handle it-
I didn't say that.
Oh no, you're too refined.
You're not like the rest of us sex crazed commoners.
You're a military man.
Look at you in this monkey suit.
What are you, some kind of faggot?
(melancholy music)
Oh, god, Sam.
I didn't mean to hurt you like that.
Here, let me see those hands.
Come on.
Oh, yeah.
I can see it.
These are special hands, Sam.
These hands are gonna save lives someday.
You'll see.
Hey, who knows?
Maybe you and I could end up as a team.
You go to med school and I get released.
It could happen.
You'll see.
I am gonna be a doctor again.
(melancholy music continues)
Talk to me.
You should go talk to Ariane.
Very good.
You should go to hell.
Why are you so angry?
Look at you.
You're a thug.
You're a pervert.
Getting your son to be the mailman
for your pornographic letters.
Spend 10 years in prison.
See how you come out.
What about before?
The nurses or the lab technicians
or any girl who would spread her legs.
Yeah, so?
So, you make me sick.
You haunt my life like you're some kind of conscience.
Like you push me to see the truth.
Well, I see it!
See what?
You were never a father to me
and you were never a husband to my mother.
Maybe they were right all along.
Maybe I was what everyone said.
Say it, Sam.
No.
Come on.
Accuse me.
Come on, be strong!
Say it!
You killed my mother.
You killed my mother!
You killed her.
You killed (sobbing).
You killed my...
(somber music)
Welcome to the bottom, Sam.
You just met your demon.
Sam!
You okay?
I've been looking everywhere for you.
What's happened?
I got it.
Six boxes of evidence.
It's all sitting in my office.
Gerber, the prosecutor,
they all said there was no sign of a break in,
no forced entry.
Which is why they said it had to be your father.
Listen to this.
There appears to be
a freshly made tool mark
on an outside door that leads to a basement.
The mark appears to have been made
by a chisel or wedge like tool.
That's from the report of Officer Henry Dombrowski,
Cleveland police.
Yeah, here's something else.
A coroner's verdict dated July 4th, 1954,
the day of the murder.
I find that Marilyn Sheppard came to her death
as a result of multiple impacts to the head,
fractures of skull, subdural hemorrhages,
and contusions of the brain.
I find it impossible to believe
the explanation of her husband,
and therefore conclude that Marilyn Sheppard
came to her death as a result of the injuries
caused and inflicted by Dr. Samuel Sheppard.
This was less than 24 hours after the murder
with a fresh trail that could have led
in any number of directions.
You know they didn't want a trail.
They already had their convenient suspect.
A brilliant and arrogant doctor
who stuck to his story 'cause he believed it,
'cause he believed innocent men
don't get sent to prison in this country.
He never figured people would lie
or conceal evidence that would've cleared his name.
Forward, hut.
Spin, hut!
Solute, hut!
Halt!
Sam, Sam!
Your father's been released.
In a stunning development,
the United States Supreme Court
has overturned the conviction of Dr. Samuel Sheppard,
calling it nothing less than a mockery of justice.
The high court concluded
that massive prejudicial publicity,
clear bias on the part of the judge,
and proceedings overrun by the press
together robbed Dr. Sheppard
of any chance at a fair trial.
The only question that remains in freeing Dr. Sheppard,
has the high court returned man to a society
that still, in many ways, believe that he's guilty?
Where's my father?
I don't understand.
The Chicago Tribune paid their expenses
in exchange for exclusive coverage of the wedding.
You mean he's in Chicago?
And then Europe for the honeymoon.
Ariane thought they needed time.
I skipped my graduation to be here.
I know.
Things happened so fast.
But he wanted me to tell you that he's sorry
and he'll see you when he gets back.
(train horn blaring)
Les Hoversten lived several weeks
with your parents?
He was fired from a hospital in Los Angeles.
My father all was trying to help him
get back up on his feet.
It appears he was fired
for making advances toward female patients.
My mother hated him,
but he left the day before the murder.
I think he went to stay the weekend
with some friends in Kent.
Kent's only 30 miles away.
Mm-hmm.
He could have come back the same night he left,
finds the house locked,
breaks in through the basement,
leaves chisel marks on the door,
then he goes upstairs to where
your mother's sleeping-
No, that doesn't make sense.
I mean, he was already living in the house.
If he wanted to assault my mother,
he had plenty of opportunities
without having to break in.
You're forgetting he needed an alibi.
No, you're forgetting
that when the police interviewed Les,
they described him as having
no visible cuts or bruises.
So?
So my mother bit her assailant hard enough
for him to trail blood through the house.
Hard enough for her to break out two of her teeth
and leave her assailant a marked man.
Honey, it's time to carve the turkey.
Let's take a break.
Hmm?
Yeah.
Daddy, Daddy!
Oh, hey guys!
Daddy, Daddy!
What are you doin'?
All right, I can't lift both of ya.
Poor Nero at The Times edition
said "We were both in the same place.
Don't you remember?"
(gentle acoustic music)
Sam, you're keeping our guests waiting.
We're ready to carve the turkey.
(doorbell rings)
(women laughing)
Surprise.
Happy to see us?
Oh, I hope we're not disturbing anything.
Hello, Robert.
Robert, I'd like you to meet some friends of mine.
This is Lou Romano and his beautiful wife, Sandy.
It's Candy.
Oh, whatever.
Lou and I met while we were in prison.
He's a wrestler.
Ain't that right?
Damn right.
Whoa, hey.
This is a hell of a place you got here,
Bobby.
Oh, Robert,
are these your friends?
Hey, nice to meet you.
Maybe good ol' Robert hasn't told you about me.
I am the black sheep of the family.
(Candy and Ariane laughing)
Right?
Sam and Ariane,
I'd like you to meet Russ and Carol Siler.
Russ has a private practice in town.
Oh, really?
It's nice to meet you.
Hello.
And this is Bob
and Eleanor Blanchard.
Bob's a surgeon at Bay View.
Oh really?
Well, well, well.
We'll be seeing a lot of each other.
Nice to meet you, Dr. Sheppard.
Oh, I love what you've done with this decor.
Isn't Bob good at this stuff?
I mean, decor and all this...
(melancholy music)
There he is.
There's my hero.
(Sam Reese laughs)
Hey, hey, hey.
What are you, queer or something?
Sorry.
Yeah, well, with all this hair
you had me worried.
I can see you're a man through and through.
What do you think, Robert?
He came out pretty good, didn't he?
For somebody who got shipped off and forgotten.
I don't suppose you've already had your dinner.
Oh, no.
As a matter of fact, we are a little bit hungry.
Yes.
Of course, if it wouldn't be an inconvenience.
None at all. None at all.
I'll just have Mrs. Avery set four more places.
A 75 year old man walks into the doctor's office
and says, "Doc, I think I'm becoming impenitent."
(Candy and Lou laughing)
And the doctor says,
"Well, when did you notice the symptoms?"
And the old guy says "Yesterday afternoon
and two times last night
and one more time again this morning."
(Lou, Candy, and Ariane laughing)
Oh, what's the matter, Robert?
You don't look like you're having any fun.
What are your plans, Sam?
What are my plans?
Getting my license restored.
Yeah.
Practicing medicine.
And who knows?
Maybe even working with you again.
That is, unless of course
you end up what working for me.
(Ariane laughs)
That's very funny.
Well, I'm a funny guy.
But the main reason I'm here
is because of you.
Because I wanted to tell you
how grateful I am.
Because if it hadn't been for you,
I would've hung myself in that prison a long time ago.
I guess you're taking him with you then, huh?
I mean his stuff's right upstairs.
Just a guitar and some clothes.
Right, Sam?
Well, that's not exactly the way I planned it.
No, Sam.
You understand we're still on a honeymoon here.
It's okay.
I see.
So it's just a little inconvenient right now.
Are you trying to embarrass me, Robert, huh?
Do you want it to look like
I don't want my son with me?
Sam, we only have a one bedroom.
Shut up!
Look, Dad.
It's okay.
I can-
Can what?
Stay here?
Honey, I think it's best-
No, no, no, no, no, no.
You're staying.
We're the ones that are going.
Go on, get your stuff.
You're coming with us.
Sam, but you promised me.
I said he's coming with us!
Go on, go on.
Okay.
Come on.
We don't need this son of a bitch anymore.
Go on.
You know, I've got three witnesses
and each one says your mother
was having an affair with Spen Houk.
You know, I've been hearing that for about 30 years.
Spen Houk was a fat slob
who was 20 years older than my mother.
If she really wanted an affair
she could have done a lot better than Spen.
All I'm saying is he was around
and your mother was alone a lot of the time.
She was lonely
and she knew your father was unfaithful.
That doesn't mean that she was unfaithful too.
All right, let's say she did have an affair.
I mean, what reason would Spen have to kill her?
Maybe because she was pregnant.
She thought it might repair her marriage.
So she told Spen the affair was over.
Only he doesn't want it to end.
So he sneaks back that night,
passes your father asleep on the couch,
makes his way upstairs,
only this time your mother rejects him more forcefully,
screams for your father-
Spen clubs him as he bursts into the room.
I'm telling you, I've heard all this before.
But it could have been Houk.
Yeah, and it could have been the milk man,
but it wasn't because my mother wasn't having an affair.
She died in a halo of blood.
She was raped and bludgeoned,
her face smashed and her skull crushed
and it wasn't Spen Houk and it wasn't Les Hoversten
and I don't know how I know this,
but I know it was somebody else,
somebody we're not seeing.
(upbeat music)
He can hear you!
Good, let him hear!
It's been six months already!
He's my kid.
I want him here with me.
(knocking on door)
If you don't like it,
you can get the hell out!
Oh, you son of a bitch!
If it weren't for my money-
Oh, your money!
I'm sick of your money!
Hey, hey, Dad!
Hey, Dad!
Your money's all gone.
What the hell good are you here?
Dad, Dad!
Can't you leave us alone?
♪ I ain't wasting no stops ♪
♪ Stop your lies ♪
♪ I ain't hesitating ♪
♪ Give me love ♪
♪ 'Cause you can't go wrong ♪
(melancholy music)
(Sam laughing)
You got your license back.
Yes!
Yes, sir!
Don't be nervous.
Don't worry.
They'll take me back.
Why don't you wait here?
Look at my record.
I have saved patients
that other surgeons couldn't even touch.
We have no other choice, Dr. Sheppard.
Your background makes you a liability.
My background?
You're sitting in my father's office.
How is that for background?
These walls, this room.
My father built this hospital.
How's that for background?
Dr. Sheppard, please.
Please what?
Go away.
Pretend I didn't exist.
Pretend I didn't spend 10 years in prison.
Do you have any idea what I lost?
Do you have any idea what it's like
to find your wife in a bed in a pool of blood
raped, and her face beaten beyond recognition?
Your whole life just crumbled
just in few moments.
Jesus.
I'm begging you.
I'm on my knees.
Dad, please.
Don't.
Please.
It's okay. It's okay.
Please, tell them, Sam.
Just tell them I'm innocent.
It's okay.
Come on. Let's go.
It's okay.
I'm sorry, Sam.
I truly am sorry.
(melancholy music)
Every hospital,
every clinic, every doctor in the state,
they all said the same thing.
That is, if they even bothered to let me interview.
Of course, by then you were in Boston.
What was I supposed to do?
Stick around and watch you and Ariane
destroy each other?
I wish you could have seen me, Sam.
Treating patients in a motel room for five bucks a visit.
Diagnosing syphilis, suturing knife wounds,
delivering illegitimate babies.
You should have seen me, Sam.
I couldn't stand to.
I know.
I couldn't stand it myself.
Were Mom and Spen,
you know, having an affair?
I don't know.
Besides, wasn't it you who said
it couldn't be Spen or Hoversten?
Yeah, and I'm not sure anymore.
I'm not sure of anything.
That's because you're forgetting
there was another witness.
I was asleep.
The day before.
You don't remember the day before?
(tense music)
I oughta put you on salary.
But don't get too close to the fireworks.
Yes, sir, Mr. Eberling.
In 1989, Richard Eberling went to prison
for beating an elderly woman to death.
Now in 1959, the same Richard Eberling
was arrested for burglarizing homes.
Now among the stolen items
in his possession at the time of the arrest was a ring,
a ring that belonged to my mother.
Go on.
Turns out, the same Richard Eberling
owned a window washing business.
In fact, he was working for my parents
around the time that my mother was murdered.
I mean, I remember him.
You sure?
When he's arrested in '59,
5 years after my mother was murdered,
do you know what he tells the cops?
My blood may be in the house
where Marilyn Sheppard was murdered.
He was abandoned at birth.
He suffered seizures, memory losses.
He bilks his foster parents out of thousands of dollars.
Now in 1956,
he's driving with his girlfriend
when his car ends up in a crash
that kills her instantly,
but miraculously, he walks away.
Now this girlfriend, by the way,
just happens to be the nurse
that treated my father's injuries
the day of the murder.
You think Eberling was dating her
because of her connection to the case?
I think Eberling was obsessed with my family,
with my father's lifestyle,
and with my mother's beauty.
And that's why he broke into Robert's house
to steal the ring that he didn't get
the night he murdered my mother.
And nearly tore her finger off trying.
So now it's the 60's
and Eberling's working as a live-in caretaker
for a wealthy widow named Ethel May Durkin
and he's managed to get himself included in her will.
But when she starts suspecting his motives,
she ends up dead, clubbed in the back of the head,
but made to look like she accidentally fell down the stairs.
So he inherits her money.
Yeah, except for Ethel's two sisters
who are also her heirs.
And do you wanna know what happened to them?
The first one dies,
supposedly falling down a flight of stairs.
And if that doesn't sound familiar enough,
the second one is found bludgeoned to death,
her head and face smashed,
her nightgown ripped down the front,
just like my mother.
And Eberling's only conviction
was for the murder of Ethel May.
Yeah.
His lawyer has arranged for me
to meet him in prison.
Want me to come with you?
Nope.
I've been in prisons before.
(brooding music)
The prison of knowing,
the prison of waiting,
until the iron bars melt away
and all that's left in the last light of day
is you and me and our dreams gone by
in the shadows set free like my mother's sigh.
That was a beautiful poem.
Thanks.
Do you mind if I ask where it came from?
Well, I guess it's a part of me
I'm trying to let out.
What year are you in?
Sophomore. You?
Yeah, same.
Hey, hey, you wanna go out for a cup of coffee or-
Hey, Sam.
Hey, man.
Is this your father?
Killer Sheppard wrestling at the Civic?
Sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.
It's okay.
Okay, so give me a call later, okay?
Don't let it get to you, man.
If you'd rather be alone, I-
No, no, no, no.
It's okay.
I'm just never ready when the next thing hits, you know.
Are you gonna go see him?
(crowd cheering)
Ladies and gentlemen,
Killer Sheppard!
And our very own Boston Bruiser!
(Sam screams)
Come on, come on!
Shut up, man.
(Boston Bruiser grunts)
(Boston Bruiser grunts)
(melancholy music)
Come on!
Yeah!
Come on, you hate me!
Come on!
(Sam screaming)
Ladies and gentlemen!
What the hell is this?
This is $220.
I don't know who you think you're messing with.
We've worked together before
and all I expect is a little bit,
a little bit of respect.
Shut up, Candy.
Oh, well!
Why are you doing this?
You could have called me.
They're taking good care of me.
Yeah.
You owe us 7030.
They're the only friends I've got.
Shut up!
I've got nowhere else to go.
I don't wanna hear it.
Look, you can stay with me a while.
Shut up.
Listen, listen.
You mean it?
Like before?
Come on, let's get outta here.
Listen, listen.
Listen, listen, I've had enough.
Dad, this is Alyssa.
This is my father.
Hi.
Hi.
Well, doing something right I see.
She's just a friend.
Oh, well then you're doing something wrong.
(Alyssa laughs)
Come one. Let's get a drink.
(car horn honks)
(upbeat rock music)
(people chattering)
♪ You're walking through this promised land ♪
♪ You never know what happiness you'll find ♪
I'm sorry.
♪ Open your mind ♪
Sam.
I'm sorry.
Just get out.
I just, just came to...
♪ Here and unwind ♪
Sam, look, I'm so sorry.
♪ Blow our little world apart ♪
I was just having a little fun with her, that's all.
♪ Close your eyes and count to 10 ♪
♪ It doesn't matter how or when you've been ♪
Here, let me help.
Dad!
Don't throw me out.
I'm gonna, I'm gonna be good.
Come on.
You're not gonna let a girl come between us.
Look, it's not the girl.
It's just not working.
Oh, yeah.
It's all right.
You gotta have your own life.
I remember.
Look, look, you wanna think I'm the bastard, fine.
No, it's just, it's me.
I just can't help myself from screwing things up. (laughing)
You wanna put me in a half Nelson, huh?
Come here.
(Sam laughing)
(gentle somber music)
Call me when you're back, honey.
Ladies and gentlemen,
may I have your attention, please.
Coach 9297 departs for Cleveland in five minutes.
927 departs for Cleveland in five minutes.
(gentle somber music continues)
Hey, Dad.
It's time.
This is for you.
You call Robert when you get into town.
Yes, sir.
Right away, sir.
Dad.
I will, I will.
Here's your ticket.
Here.
That's all I got.
You have beautiful hands.
Did I ever tell you that?
Hey, good luck.
Richard Eberling.
So we meet again.
Last time I saw you you were just a little tad.
That's right.
Now you're here 'cause you think I did it.
The ugly outsider, the dirty commoner.
It had to be me 'cause it couldn't possibly
have been that golden boy surgeon, could it?
Well, I didn't...
I didn't expect you to confess.
Yeah, well, I could tell you what really happened
if I thought you could take it.
You see, when you work in folks' houses,
you come across some dirty secrets.
Yeah.
Yeah, go ahead.
Turn your little recorder on.
See, it was the day before the murder.
I was cleaning windows in your folks' house
when I heard Esther Houk screaming at your mother upstairs.
"If you don't stay away from my husband,
I'm gonna kill you."
See, Esther was insanely jealous of her husband.
And she was half out of her mind
in between her medication
and her drinking problems.
And she just knew that your mother and Spen
were flaunting it right under her nose.
So she decided to come back later that night
and put a stop to it.
What she had, see,
was this iron patty shell maker
and what she did, see,
was stand by that bed where your mother,
you beautiful mother, just lay there, you know?
And then this rage
started filling up inside her.
And then she just started wailing away.
(Richard imitates banging)
Of course your dad hears the screams
but by the time he gets up the stairs,
all he sees is Esther covered in blood
and moaning like an animal.
So he called Spen and the two of them
cook up this story about some bushy-haired intruder,
which would've held up if that coroner Gerber
hadn't gone after your father.
And then if good old Spen hadn't jumped on the bandwagon,
you know, to keep his own dirty little secrets hid.
How was it that your blood was in the house?
Like I said, I was cleaning the windows the day before
and I cut my finger on that one in the kitchen.
You remember that window, don't you, Chip?
You know what I think?
I think you're a liar.
(Richard chuckles)
I'm sure you'd like to believe that.
And that scar,
didn't you get that when my mother bit you?
Wrong.
You didn't trail blood through the house
as you ran out?
Wrong again.
You killed my mother
just like you killed Ethel Durkin.
Wrong.
Wrong, wrong, wrong.
Well, we'll see.
(melancholy music)
Sam, I've been trying to get you.
I called the school,
but they said you'd stopped going.
Robert, how did he die?
The paper didn't say.
They found him on the floor of his apartment.
He'd been drinking and taking pain pills, I guess.
They said he'd been going downhill for a while.
They said he had a bunch of dead flowers in his hand.
You're going to have to stand up for yourself.
You have to be strong.
Who knows?
Maybe you and I could end up as a team.
You go to med school.
I get released.
It could happen.
I'm going to be
a doctor again.
I think it best
you not go to the funeral.
You'd be surrounded by reporters.
You'd never stand a chance.
The head and face
bloodied by some 35 blows.
Well they're gonna kill him, Sam R. Sheppard!
They're gonna fry your daddy in the electric chair.
No fractures.
Killer Sheppard gonna die.
Broken nose.
Killer Sheppard gonna fry.
Two broken teeth.
The murder weapon was a surgical instrument.
The kind an osteopath might use.
You have beautiful hands, Chip.
These hands have greatness in them.
Always remember that.
You have a special gift in these hands.
Do you know what it's like to come home
and find your wife in a bed in a pool of blood.
Magical powers, to heal people like Daddy.
Chip was my nickname.
My real name is Sam R. Sheppard, just like my father.
Your grandma was a coward.
Only cowards kill themselves.
'Cause if it hadn't been for you,
I would've hung myself in that prison.
Well done, son.
Well, I guess today is the day.
I guess so.
You know, I'll be happy to drive you to the airport.
Oh no, that's okay.
I already called the cab.
How do you feel?
Fine.
You got all your things,
your medications?
Yes.
Well, I imagine the weather will be nice
in Boston at this time of the a year.
Have you thought about what you're gonna do
when you get there?
Well, a friend of mine's a dental hygienist.
He says it's a pretty good job.
Helping people, using my hands.
I think I have good hands.
Sam, the past is the past.
As your doctor and your uncle,
I strongly advise you, don't go back.
It's dangerous for you.
Do you understand?
(melancholy music)
Like I said, I was cleaning the windows
the day before and I cut my finger
on the one in the kitchen.
You remember that window, don't you?
He's a liar.
He never actually worked at my parents' house.
His assistant did and his name is Vern Lund.
So the only possible explanation
where Eberling's blood was inside your house-
Was because he killed my mother.
I want you to contact Eberling's attorney.
If his client's as innocent as he claims,
they'll have no trouble getting us
a blood sample for comparison.
Yeah, but a comparison to what?
We don't have any blood from the scene of the crime.
Yes, we do.
We have
a drop of blood from my parents' house.
Now I gotta go find Lund.
I remember 'cause it was so different.
See, I was only 18.
So he worked with me on every job
except your folk's house.
He had me do that one myself.
So, do you mind?
No, no, go ahead.
So he was never inside the house?
Oh yes, sir, he was
'cause he gave the estimate.
That meant going inside and counting windows.
I'm sure he was all through the house.
And what happened next?
Well, that was strange too
'cause your mom,
her murder,
it happened over the weekend
and I still hadn't heard about it 'til Monday
when I was in the car with Eberling
and he told me your mom got raped and killed
and that only he knowed who did it.
And it shocked me.
I mean, it really shocked me
'cause I'd just been there the Friday before.
She'd been so nice to me.
And what did you do?
Well, I guess it just scared me.
So I quit working for him the next day
and tried to put the whole thing outta my mind.
The police never interviewed you about this?
Oh yes, sir, they did.
And I told 'em all I'm telling you now.
And when Eberling was on trial
for murdering that widow,
I contacted the same police department again.
See, I saw a connection,
the way that woman died
and the way your poor mother died.
But the police,
they never did anything about it.
Any luck with Lund?
I'm coming back with a signed affidavit.
I think you'll find it very interesting.
What about Eberling?
No, he's refusing to cooperate.
The chance of us getting a court order
to force him are slim and none,
especially with only one drop
of unidentified blood to base a comparison on.
Okay.
I'll get back to you.
Okay, bye.
Okay.
(phone beeps)
It's a pleasure to meet you.
Thank you for seeing me, Dr. Balraj.
How can I help you?
Well, during my father's trials,
none of the state's evidence
was ever made available to my family.
We are talking about a trial
that took place over 40 years ago.
Yes, but this wasn't just an ordinary case.
Your predecessor, Dr. Gerber,
hated my father and everything he stood for
and after doing everything he could to destroy him,
Dr. Gerber still refused to release his reports.
Well Mr. Sheppard, even if that's true,
I still don't see what this has to do with me.
Well, for years there have been rumors of a vault.
Materials, evidence that Dr. Gerber
kept under his personal lock and key.
And even though I filed under Freedom of Information,
I have yet to receive a single document
in response to that suit.
Are you accusing me of withholding evidence?
No, Dr. Balraj.
I'm in no position to accuse anyone.
Because, you see,
if I can't produce any more evidence,
my mother's murderer will never face justice
and I will have to live the rest of my life
knowing that I failed her.
So, really, I'm here to beg you.
If you know of anything in the archives or warehouse...
I'll let you know.
Thank you.
Your Honor,
we base our petition on three issues.
First, the massive misconduct by the state
throughout Dr. Sheppard's 1954 trial.
Second, that evidence
which could have exonerated Dr. Sheppard
was deliberately excluded by the prosecution.
And lastly, the discovery of Richard Eberling,
who's a much more likely suspect
than Dr. Sheppard eve was.
But even if I order Mr. Eberling
to submit to a blood draw,
isn't it true that the only thing you have
to compare with his sample
is a single drop of blood in a vial from a garage?
Your Honor, it was in a box of my father's belongings
in an envelope marked evidence from the coroner's office.
But you have no proof of this, correct?
No chain of evidence, no authentication.
You have no idea where this drop of blood
may have been all these years.
Your Honor, if I might approach.
If you have something to add to these proceedings,
please identify yourself to the court.
For the record,
my name is Elizabeth Balraj
and I am the Cuyahoga County coroner.
After a thorough investigation by my department,
a vault of information was discovered
belonging to this case.
This is a partial list of its contents,
including some 91 evidence envelopes
consisting of blood, vaginal swabs,
fingernail scrapings, hair samples, et cetera.
All of which I am recommending
be made available to the plaintiff
for DNA testing in this case.
All right.
Given this basis for comparison,
I'm ordering a blood sample
be taken from Mr. Eberling.
It wasn't Marilyn's Sheppard blood
and it wasn't Dr. Sheppard's blood
because we know he wasn't bleeding.
No, it was the murderer's blood.
It was Richard Eberling's blood
on the stairs, on the porch,
his DNA in the sperm, Richard Eberling's DNA.
This is the same Richard Eberling
convicted of theft and burglary.
The same Eberling convicted of forging a will and perjury.
The same Richard Eberling
convicted for the murder of Ethel May Durkin
and suspected in the murder of several others.
His blood, his sperm,
his pattern of violence
over and over and over again.
Therefore, Your Honor,
we demand nothing less than a declaration of innocence
granted to the deceased Dr. Sheppard
and an indictment of Richard Eberling
for the murder of Marilyn Sheppard.
Well.
Well, I think we can all sympathize with the plaintiff.
My god.
Sam.
Your Honor-
Sam, Sam, I know you mean well.
Mr. Sheppard, if you have something
to say to this court...
Yes, Your Honor.
My father wasn't not guilty.
My father was innocent
and he told that truth over and over and over again
and no one listened.
Not the press,
that assumed it had to be him
and then made sure he was punished accordingly,
not the city that turned into a lynch mob,
and not the courts that turned his trial
into a witch hunt.
You know, and even, even today, even in this court,
we're just as sure that he did it
because he was so cocky,
because he had affairs.
I mean, it must have been him
because our system of justice
doesn't destroy a human being
just because he's a convenient target.
But that's,
that's what happened.
My father was an innocent man.
But the cops, the courts,
and the people of the state
decided that he had to pay
and they took away his freedom and his pride
and they took away his family
and his career.
And in so doing,
they put my father to death
just as sure as Richard Eberling
beat my mother to death.
And why can no one admit they made a mistake?
No one says, "We're sorry, Dr. Sheppard.
You were right.
You were telling the truth all along."
Well I'm here telling the truth.
And I only wish my father could hear this.
And I only wish my mother could see,
because when it comes to the sympathy of this court,
I swear that the people who took the lives of my parents
will be made responsible
and I will not rest until that justice is done.
(melancholy music)
So what are your plans?
Well, I've decided to work
to abolish the death penalty.
I leave next week for a demonstration walk
from Boston to New Orleans.
And after that?
Well, we'll have to see, won't we?
(Terry chuckles)
You're quite a guy, Sam.
You too.
I couldn't have done any of this without you.
Oh, I don't know.
I think you could have done it all without me.
Terry.
I wanna thank you for being my lawyer
and being my friend.
Thanks.
It's an honor, Sam.
Truly an honor.
(melancholy music continues)
You did it, Sam.
You faced the truth
and you set us both free.
I'm never gonna see you again, am I?
You don't need me anymore.
You're your own man now.
You proved it to yourself.
Now there's no stain.
There's no secret.
There's no shadow to be afraid of.
I just wish it could have believed in you more before.
Believe in yourself, Sam,
and your strength and your courage
and your innocence.
Let me see those hands.
(gentle music)
You're a fine man, Sam,
and I'm proud to be your father.
(melancholy music)
(gentle morose music)
(upbeat music)