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	Trial of Priest Accused of Killing Nun Will Have Tv-Show Feel The Associated Press, carried in The Beacon Journal April 17, 2006 http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/14358847.htm TOLEDO, Ohio - The trial of a Roman Catholic priest accused of killing a nun in a hospital chapel over Easter weekend 26 years ago will at times resemble a modern TV drama, with forensic evidence playing a starring role. Among those expected to testify at the trial, which begins Monday with jury selection, are a medical examiner who has written a book on bloodstains and a forensic anthropologist who also is a best-selling mystery author and the inspiration behind Fox's crime show "Bones." The Rev. Gerald Robinson, 68, is charged with strangling and stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in 1980 at the hospital where they worked. Investigators say the 30 stab wounds on the nun's chest and neck formed what resembled a cross. Police have said the killing may have been some kind of ritual slaying because of evidence found in the chapel and because Pahl's body was posed to look as though she had been sexually assaulted, even though investigators say she wasn't. Robinson, wearing a black suit and white priest's collar, arrived at Lucas County Common Pleas Court with his lawyers about a half-hour before jury selection was to begin. Although he has been placed on leave by the Catholic Diocese in Toledo, he still has permission to wear his collar. The case will lean heavily on forensic evidence because there were no witnesses to the crime and it happened so long ago. Investigators who reopened the murder case after two decades say they found bloodstains on an altar cloth that matched those from a sword-shaped letter opener. They said the stains were created when the letter opener was laid down. They also exhumed the nun's body two years ago and gathered DNA samples. Prosecutors also plan to use Robinson's statements made to police, including a claim that someone else had confessed to killing the woman. He later admitted making that up, according to an investigator's testimony earlier this year. Investigators have not disclosed a motive for the slaying. Potential jurors will be asked whether they have opinions on sexual molestation charges against clergy members and if they have strong thoughts on the Catholic Church. Court officials have asked for a jury pool of about 250 people, the largest they can remember for a trial. Potential jurors waited in a long line Monday in the courthouse to check in before questioning began. Robinson, who presided at the nun's funeral Mass, was questioned by police twice in the weeks after the killing. Police said he was a suspect because he was near the chapel when the body of Sister Margaret Ann, 71, was found by another nun. Police now believe the letter opener, found in Robinson's room, was the murder weapon. But investigators said they didn't have enough evidence to arrest him at the time. Robinson was the chaplain at Mercy Hospital and worked closely with the nun who was the caretaker of the hospital chapel. Investigators reopened the murder case in 2003 after the prosecutor's office received a letter about a woman's claims that she was molested by priests for years as a child. Among the names she mentioned was Robinson. Police were unable to substantiate her allegations of sexual abuse. Investigators arrested Robinson in 2004 after the priest told them that the letter opener belonged to him. Since then, some community members have accused police and the Diocese of Toledo of not aggressively investigating the slaying and crimes involving priests accused of molesting children. Robinson, who is free on bail, could get life in prison if convicted of murder. He cannot get the death penalty because it was not in effect at the time of the slaying.
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