Convicted priest Gerald Robinson says he didn’t murder nun

A Catholic priest imprisoned for killing a nun 29 years ago told a newspaper that he is innocent, but a prosecutor and the victim’s nephew wondered why he is only making the claim now.

The Reverend Gerald Robinson, now 71, was convicted in 2006 for killing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in 1980 by strangling her and stabbing her 31 times in a Toledo hospital chapel.

Church historians have said it is the only documented case of a Catholic priest killing a nun.

“I didn’t do this,” Robinson told The Columbus Dispatch for Sunday editions. “I have no idea why anyone would do it.”

Robinson was sentenced to a mandatory term of 15 years to life in prison.
[...]

Lawyers for the Ohio Innocence Project are continuing tests to determine whether DNA under Sister Pahl’s fingernails matches someone else. The DNA does not match that of Robinson and it also did not match that of the Reverend Jerome Swiatecki, the late priest who Robinson’s lawyers believed should have been a suspect.

A 20-centimetre letter opener that was a gift to Robinson became the central piece of evidence that prosecutors used to tie him to the crime.
[...more...]

See Also

• Gerald Robinson news archive
• Seeking Salvation, a special, multimedia report from The Columbus Dispatch:

The Rev. Gerald Robinson has never spoken publicly about the day in 1980 that Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was murdered in the chapel of Toledo’s Mercy Hospital.

Church historians believe his conviction is the first U.S. case of a priest being sent to prison for killing a nun.

Now, after three years in prison, the 71-year-old priest tells about his relationship with the victim, the trial, the intense scrutiny of his case and his relationship with God.
[...special report, including photos and videos...]

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