Photograph of Merle McCurdy and Dorothy Kilgallen, an American journalist at the New York Journal-American who covered the Dr. Sam Sheppard trial.

F. Lee Bailey, a lawyer who served in the re-trial of Sam Sheppard, heard Kilgallen speak to a group that the Trial Court Judge in Dr. Sheppard’s case declared that the defendant was “guilty as hell” (Ostrow, 1966, p. 6) before the trial and that the case against Sheppard was “open and shut” (Ostrow, 1966, p. 6). Bailey used this statement as a basis to assert that his client was entitled to a new trial based on the Judge’s bias before any evidence was even presented in the case.

Source

Ostrow, R. (1966, March 1). Judge in Dr. Sheppard Trial Accused of Bias. Los Angeles Times, p. 6.