The writ of habeas corpus, also called the “great writ,” is a summons with the force of a court order and a constitutional protective barrier against illegal imprisonment. Latin for "that you have the body," a writ of habeas corpus is used to bring a prisoner or detainee before the court to determine if the person's imprisonment or detention is lawful. A habeas petition proceeds as a civil action against the State agent (usually a warden) who holds the defendant in custody. If granted, habeas corpus requires that the petitioning person (body) be brought before a judge or court for investigation of restraint of this person’s confinement without due process of law. Habeas often is considered a long-shot civil suit for prisoners who have exhausted all other legal remedies and seek legal relief on the grounds that they have been deprived of their constitutional rights.

On April 11, 1963, Boston Attorney F. Lee Bailey filed a Federal habeas corpus petition in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Ohio, presenting numerous rights violations to the Federal Courts. He proclaimed Sheppard’s innocence and demanded a new trial. Judge Carl A. Weinman was the Chief Judge assigned to the case. Bailey’s petition alleged that Sheppard’s fundamental rights had been denied by the trial court due to various conflicts and prejudicial publicity. This petition was granted by the District Court on July 15, 1964. The Judge called the 1954 trial a "mockery of justice" that violated Sheppard's Fourteenth Amendment rights to due process. The State was ordered to release Sheppard and gave the prosecutor 60 days to bring charges, otherwise the case would be dismissed permanently.

The State of Ohio appealed this ruling to a U.S. Court of Appeals, where on March 4, 1965 the ruling was reversed. Subsequently, Bailey (on Sheppard's behalf) appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court on writ of certiorari; the U.S. Supreme Court granted certiorari to hear the Sheppard v. Maxwell Federal habeas corpus case. On June 6, 1966, the U.S. Supreme Court concluded that Sheppard did not receive a fair trial consistent with the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment and, therefore, reversed the previous judgment and ordered the murder verdict invalid.

The Cuyahoga County prosecutor's office decided to retry the case. To see the documents associated with the 1966 retrial, go to the 1966 Trial Collections portion of this website.