TOLEDO (OH)
Reuters
By Bill Frogameni
TOLEDO, Ohio (Reuters) - A Catholic priest on trial for the murder of a nun 26 years ago has lied repeatedly about the case, once telling investigators he had heard the real murderer's confession, a prosecutor said on Friday.
The Rev. Gerald Robinson, 68, later denied he had heard the supposed confession, saying he was pressured by police who considered him the prime suspect in the murder of sister Margaret Ann Pahl on the day before Easter Sunday in 1980.
The 71-year-old nun's body was found strangled and stabbed in the downtown Toledo hospital chapel where Robinson served as chaplain. Her body and clothing were posed as if she had been sexually assaulted, though she had not been.
Her body was covered with an altar cloth and had 31 stab wounds, some of them on her chest forming an upside-down cross, Lucas County Prosecutor Dean Mandros told the jury in his opening statement.