By David Yonke
Toledo Blade
April 18, 2006
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060418/NEWS02/60418023
The deliberate process of selecting 12 jurors and 4 alternates from a pool of 99 people in the murder trial of the Rev. Gerald Robinson will extend beyond today's scheduled conclusion and carry over into tomorrow.
The potential jurors were questioned yesterday by Judge Thomas Osowik of Lucas County Common Pleas Court, defense attorneys, and the prosecutor's office. Much of the questioning revolved around three main points:
• Whether the prospective jurors have formed an opinion in the case based on extensive pretrial media reporting about the 1980 stabbing death of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
• Whether participating in a trial expected to last three to four weeks would cause a hardship on jobs or family.
• If prospective jurors' religious beliefs might impair their ability to be fair and impartial.
The process moved more slowly than anticipated yesterday with each prospective juror queried for 10 to 20 minutes. A total of 30 prospective jurors were interviewed by the time court adjourned at 5:15 p.m. — 20 fewer than planned.
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The Rev. Gerald Robinson listens to attorneys John Thebes, left, and Alan Konop at the start of his trial in a nun’s 1980 slaying. Photo by The Blade/Andy Morrison |
Three of the 30 interviewed were dismissed outright.
Jurors are not normally identified and cannot be photographed during a trial. A court order in this case emphasizes those restrictions.
One of those dismissed expressed intense loyalty to the Catholic Church, calling himself "an old-fashioned Catholic" who finds it difficult to believe a priest could commit murder.
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The Rev. Gerald Robinson leaves Lucas County Common Pleas Court for a lunch break. He has pleaded not guilty to murder and is free on bond. Jury selection resumes today. Photo by The Blade/Andy Morrison |
Although many of those interviewed yesterday are Catholic, most said they feel they could make impartial decisions based on the evidence presented in court.
Another jury candidate who described herself as a strong Catholic was excused after saying she had numerous health concerns. The third prospective juror was dismissed because she is six months pregnant.
All of the prospective jurors filled out questionnaires about their backgrounds and religious beliefs and were briefed as a group by Judge Osowik. They then were called individually into the fourth-floor courtroom for questioning.
Father Robinson, 68, was arrested April, 23, 2004, in the 1980 slaying of Sister Margaret Ann.
The 71-year-old nun was found strangled and stabbed repeatedly on Holy Saturday in the room next door to the chapel at Mercy Hospital.
Her clothes were disheveled as if she had been sexually molested, although police said later that the killer removed her undergarments to mislead authorities.
The case, believed to be the only one in U.S. history in which a Roman Catholic priest is accused of murdering a Catholic nun, was reopened by the local cold-case squad after a woman in her forties asked the Toledo diocese to pay her counseling bills. She alleged that she was the victim of ritual abuse as a child by a number of clerics, including Father Robinson.
Cold-case detectives decided to look into the 1980 murder case and found new evidence using blood-transfer pattern analysis.
They said that imprints made in blood on an altar cloth that had been wrapped around Sister Margaret Ann's body were from a letter opener belonging to Father Robinson, asserting that it links the priest to the crime scene.
Father Robinson has pleaded not guilty and is free on $200,000 bond. If convicted, he faces possible life in prison.
Father Robinson, wearing a priest's clerical collar, black shirt, and black jacket, sat quietly through the proceedings yesterday and did not address the court. He spoke softly with his attorneys, Alan Konop, John Thebes, John Callahan, and Nicole Khoury.
The slight, balding priest showed little emotion most of the day, often resting his chin in his right hand with two fingers at his temple. At times he sat with his eyes closed, as if asleep.
At one point, Father Robinson laughed along with most of the court when a prospective juror said it would be hard for her to not read newspapers during the trial because she would miss the Garfield cartoon.
Father Robinson, a Toledo native and a local diocesan priest since he was ordained in 1964, was placed on leave by Bishop Leonard Blair shortly after his arrest and has since retired.
Contact David Yonke at: dyonke@theblade.com or 419-724-6154.
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