BishopAccountability.org
	High Drama in Court Toledo Blade April 14, 2006 http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060414/OPINION02/60414019 THE trial of the Rev. Gerald Robinson, due to begin next week with jury selection, has all the ingredients to become the most sensational legal proceeding ever to take place in Lucas County, and it would be foolish to pretend otherwise. Never before, thankfully, has the courthouse stage been set for testimony about a vicious murder, with a nun as victim and a priest as defendant, fueled by allegations of sexual abuse and occult activities. No wonder Court TV plans gavel-to-gavel coverage, accompanied by dozens of print and electronic reporters, producers, and photographers, many from out of town. The knee-jerk reaction would be to categorize the whole thing as a "media circus," but that would be to discount the intense interest and apprehension, not just in Toledo but from around the world, in one of the most riveting stories of our time — sexual abuse of children on the part of Roman Catholic clergy over many years. In truth, this 26-year-old murder case probably never would have come to trial had it not been for allegations of that very sort. Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, a 71-year-old Sister of Mercy of the Union nun, was strangled and then stabbed more than 30 times in the chapel of what was then Mercy Hospital on the day before Easter in 1980. Horrific as it was, the case ultimately went cold. It was only revived after claims to authorities by a woman — also a nun — that she had been abused as a child and that priests were involved. Father Robinson, who had been a chaplain at the hospital and celebrated Mass at Sister Margaret's funeral, was arrested two years ago and charged with the murder. He does not face the death penalty, which was not in effect in Ohio at the time of the murder. Against this backdrop, Judge Thomas Osowik and prosecutors in the case have done a credible job of maintaining decorum while keeping pre-trial proceedings on schedule. The major accommodation has been to move the trial from a courtroom with 30 seats to a larger one seating 45. Remote-control cameras will be in place to keep disruption by media coverage to a minimum. While the Robinson case presents all the elements of a blockbuster trial with the accompanying media frenzy, the feeling here is that the drama inherent in any legal proceeding of this magnitude need not preclude justice from being done. Toledoans, particularly, want a definitive conclusion to this most compelling excerpt in our history, but we also know that the whole world will be watching with us.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.