By Erica Blake
Toledo Blade
August 3, 2011
http://www.toledoblade.com/Courts/2011/08/03/Attorneys-for-priest-file-last-briefs-in-appeal-effort.html
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| Gerald Robinson was convicted in 2006 of murdering Sister Margaret Ann Phal in the former Mercy Hospital in 1980 |
Missing Toledo police reports discovered after the 2006 murder conviction of priest Gerald Robinson would have provided a "crucial link" to another suspect, his attorneys argued in a brief filed this week in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
But it's a contention Lucas County prosecutors say fails to account for the multitude of evidence pointing to Robinson as the killer.
Robinson's attorneys filed a post-hearing closing argument Monday, more than two months after the convicted cleric appeared in court for a hearing. The 16-page brief offers the final argument in the defense's amended petition for post-conviction relief, which contends the priest's constitutional rights were violated in the trial in which he was convicted of murdering Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in 1980.
Judge Gene Zmuda, who ordered a May hearing to address a few specific issues among the many arguments raised by Robinson's lawyers, now must decide if Robinson's constitutional rights were violated.
The bulk of the defense's argument focused on about 140 pages of related police reports discovered in late 2009. Included in those reports was a statement by a witness, Willie Hughes, who gave a description of a young black male seen at the former Mercy Hospital on Holy Saturday morning, 1980 -- the site and date of the sister's death.
The defense further noted that had the report been available, Robinson's trial counsel likely would have pursued the possibility that the murder was the result of a notorious serial killer, Coral Eugene Watts.
"Clearly, the missing Willie Hughes information would have provided a crucial link to the likelihood that Coral Eugene Watts killed Sister Pahl, not a diminutive priest with absolutely no history of violence [before or after the 1980 murder] or motive," the brief concluded. "Stated succinctly, had the jury been able to hear the similarities between the crimes of Coral Eugene Watts and those of Sister Pahl, the verdict would have likely been wholly different."
In its written opposition to the defense's claims filed July 8, the state emphasized the "overwhelming" evidence that pointed to Robinson as the killer and dismissed the argument that Watts was a probable suspect.
"The nondisclosed documents, like the evidence about which defense counsel was aware, consisted simply of random reports of black males seen at the hospital, none under even remotely suspicious circumstances," the state's brief argued. "Pursuing the 'Watts-must-have-done-it' defense lately advocated by defendant's new counsel would have been far riskier that the 'We-don't-know-who-did-it-but-it-wasn't-Father-Robinson' defense that counsel chose."
Watts, who generally fit the description that witnesses gave Toledo police, confessed to 12 killings in Texas and Ohio and may have been responsible for killing more than 80 women. Authorities have said that he was in Detroit and Ann Arbor around the time that Sister Margaret Ann was choked nearly to death in the hospital sacristy then was stabbed 31 times. She was found with her habit pulled up and her undergarments pulled down.
Watts, who died of cancer in a Michigan prison in 2007 at age 53, had strangled many of his female victims and stabbed them repeatedly, then left them with their blouses pulled up.
John Weglian, chief of the special units division of the prosecutor's office, said Tuesday that while there are a few similarities between Watts' method of killing and the murder, there are many more differences.
In particular, he noted the "ritualistic" nature of Sister Margaret Ann's death was unique to the Toledo case.
"If one compared the dissimilarities of Sister Pahl's homicide to Watts, it's a pretty reasonable choice for [trial] counsel to decide against bringing Watts as a suspect because it would backfire," he said.
Also noted in the state's written argument was that Watts' DNA was tested in 2009 and that it did not match DNA found on Sister Margaret Ann's fingernails.
Mr. Weglian added that the defense's new argument is not able to discredit the evidence used to convict Robinson in the trial.
"[The arguments] don't do anything to impeach the credibility of the evidence that was used to establish Robinson as the perpetrator," he said. "Unless they can do that, I don't think they are entitled to any relief."
Attorney Rick Kerger, who with Jeffrey Zilba argued the post-conviction relief motion, said Tuesday that the failure to disclose witness statements involving the presence of an unknown black man was a violation of Robinson's rights.
That, coupled with admissions by Robinson's trial counsel that they believed Watts was incarcerated at the time of the hearing and so did not pursue him as a defense, is sufficient grounds to warrant a new trial, he said.
"I know the judge will review matters carefully and I think if he does, the problems related to Mr. Watts would warrant a new trial," he said.
Robinson's murder conviction was upheld in the Ohio 6th District Court of Appeals and the Ohio Supreme Court. Now 73, he is serving a 15-years-to-life sentence at a prison in southern Ohio
Contact: eblake@theblade.com
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