Cleveland Stories Dinner Parties – The Mad Murderess of Shaker Heights

*Event occurs at the Music Box Supper Club (1148 Main Avenue Cleveland, OH 44113)*

Doors open at 5:00pm, with the storytelling beginning promptly at 7:00pm

• Weekly series combining great food with great stories about Cleveland’s past
• FREE ADMISSION – NO COVER CHARGE
• Pre Fixe 3-course dinner option just $20
• This week’s menu:
  • Chopped Salad
  • Dr. Kevorkian Pork
  • Killer Pie

For more information please call (216) 242-1250

See all Cleveland Stories dates here.

Story topic this week…

The Mad Murderess of Shaker Heights
“They have no witnesses. They have no case.” With this blunt observation, Mariann Colby―an attractive, church-going Shaker Heights, Ohio, mother and housewife―bet a defense psychiatrist that she would not be convicted of murder. A lack of witnesses was not the only problem that would confront the State of Ohio in 1966, which would seek to prosecute her for shooting to death Cremer Young Jr., her son’s nine-year-old playmate. This story will have you on the edge of your seat, wondering whether or not Mariann Colby committed the murder. In addition, those interested in legal history will find much of value in Tabac’s discussions of the case and its use of an insanity defense strategy.

William L. Tabac Bio

William L. Tabac William L. Tabac is a practicing lawyer and emeritus professor of law at the Cleveland-Marshall College of Law of Cleveland State University. He has published a commercial law treatise, articles on a wide variety of subjects in law journals, and for the New York Times Sunday Magazine and the Cleveland Plain Dealer. He is the author of The Insanity Defense: The Mad Murderess of Shaker Heights: Examining the Trial of Mariann Colby (2018) and The Rise and Fall of Nashville Lawyer Tommy Osborn: Kennedy Convictions (2018). He served as producer and host of The Law and You, an award-winning radio program. He and his wife, Cathy, reside in Parkman, Ohio.

The goal of the Cleveland Stories Dinner Party is to bring to life some of the fun, interesting stories about Cleveland’s past – from sports, to rock ‘n roll, to Millionaire’s Row, — the series will focus on tidbits from Cleveland’s past that will really thrill the audience. The Music Box is presenting this series in partnership with the Western Reserve Historical Society’s new Cleveland History Center. We think the Cleveland History Center is one of the most important museums in Cleveland. An unknown gem that Clevelanders should know more about, and support. It is the only museum in Cleveland dedicated to preserving and documenting the history of Cleveland. The Cleveland History Center includes two mansions, the Crawford Auto Aviation Museum, Chisholm Halle Costume Wing, Research Library, Kidzibits Hands-On Gallery, rotating exhibitions, and the Euclid Beach Park Grand Carousel.