February 28, 2005

Documents Say Priest Failed Lie Detector

TOLEDO (OH)
WTOL

TOLEDO -- A Roman Catholic priest accused of strangling and stabbing a nun in 1980 failed one of two lie detector tests in the days after the killing, according to court documents released Monday. The Rev. Gerald Robinson's failed test indicated he was involved with the nun's death, according to a document filed by investigators. A second polygraph test however indicated that Robinson "passed" the test, but investigators say the results were marginal and inconclusive.

Robinson's attorney, Alan Konop, would only say that lie detector tests mentioned in the search warrants were "not a true representation of what happened." He did note that Robinson passed a second polygraph test, clouding the results of the first. Neither test is admissable in court.

The reports of the lie detectors tests came in a series of search warrants which were opened today and given to the news media by the courts. The opened warrants also indicate that Toledo Police investigators tried to months to obtain so called "secret archive" files from the Diocese and finally in September of 2004, they obtained search warrants to look for those alleged files at the Catholic offices in downtown Toledo.

The Diocese of Toledo issued a statement late this afternoon disputing the existence of a "secret archive." The statement of Leonard Bishop Blair says the Diocese of Toledo has never maintained such an archive and there is nothing more for the church to turn over to police regarding the investigation of Father Gerald Robinson. They say all confidential information collected by the church is now in the hands of the prosecutor and police.

Posted by kshaw at February 28, 2005 05:10 PM