Gerald Robinson: Defense begins its nun-murder case

TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — Workers who say they saw a priest near a hospital chapel within an hour before a nun was found dead inside have given inconsistent information to investigators, detectives testified Friday as the priest’s defense started in his murder trial.

Alan Konop, the attorney for the Rev. Gerald Robinson, challenged witnesses’ testimony on when they saw Robinson outside the chapel and where he was going, saying their statements conflicted with what they told investigators.

“Memories fade, don’t they?” Konop asked a retired Toledo police detective. “Yes, they do,” Detective David Weinbrecht replied.

Robinson is accused of choking and stabbing Sister Pahl. The priest says he was in his living quarters in Mercy Hospital until he was called when the nun’s body was found.

Robinson, the hospital chaplain, worked closely with Sister Pahl, the chapel caretaker. He presided over the nun’s funeral. Prosecutors have not given a possible motive.

A former medical technician, Leslie Kerner, testified for the prosecution that she saw Robinson by the chapel doors before the body of Sister Pahl was found, but did not know whether he was going or coming.

She told investigators in 1980 that Robinson was leaving, police Sgt. Steve Forrester testified Friday.

A second former worker, Grace Jones, who testified that she saw Robinson coming out the chapel doors with a dark duffel bag in his hands has given investigators different times as to when she saw him, Forester said.

The workers’ testimony Thursday was the first time during the trial that witnesses said they saw Robinson in the vicinity of the chapel.

A third former hospital employee who testified that he saw a man wearing black clothes and a priest’s collar after the nun’s body was found did not mention that fact to police conducting the investigation in 1980, said Daniel Foster, a retired detective involved in the initial investigation.

Dr. Jack Baron said he ran toward the chapel when he heard an emergency call and saw the man with the priest’s collar walking toward the chapel and said he gave “me a stare that went right through me.” He did not know whether the man was Robinson.

Weinbrecht also testified that an assistant coroner told him in 1980 that a pair of scissors could have been used to kill Sister Pahl. Scissors disappeared from the chapel about the time of the killing, and Weinbrecht took a similar pair from the chapel to the coroner to compare to the wounds on Sister Pahl’s body.

But the assistant coroner also said some wounds appeared to have been made with something sharper than the scissors, and that a letter opener belonging to the priest was consistent with all the wounds, Weinbrecht said. Prosecutors have said the opener was used to kill Sister Pahl.

Robinson was a suspect early on because his living quarters were near the chapel, but he wasn’t charged until two years ago when authorities reopened the case.

Konop called into question how police handled the investigation in the first weeks after Sister Pahl was killed.

He asked former police detective Arthur Marx whether he tested the chapel doors and windows for fingerprints and if he tested Robinson’s room and the hallway leading to it for blood or hair. Marx said he did not perform any of those tests.

“You didn’t bother to do that,” Konop said emphatically.

Marx testified that whoever killed the nun was not a stranger because there were so many stab wounds. “It was someone very angry,” he said.

Marx interviewed Robinson and the hospital’s other chaplain in 1980, but he said the reports he wrote about those meetings are now missing. Marx said the last person he gave the reports to was former Deputy Chief Ray Vetter, whom Marx referred to as a “very strict Catholic.”

Marx said Vetter and Monsignor Jerome Scmidt from the Toledo Catholic Diocese interrupted a second police interview with Robinson in 1980 and that priest left soon afterward.

Community members have charged that police and the diocese did not aggressively investigate the slaying. Vetter has said in the past that there was no coverup and charges weren’t pursued against Robinson because there was never enough evidence to get a conviction.

Investigators say stab wounds on Sister Pahl’s chest formed an upside-down cross, a symbol that an expert on Roman Catholic law and the occult testified Monday has been used in satanic worship and could have been intended to mock God.

The Rev. Jeffrey Grob said only a priest, nun or seminary student would understand the significance of the inverted cross along with other aspects of the crime scene.

Robinson could get life in prison if convicted of murder.

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