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	Jury Set for Priest's Trial Opening Statements, Visit to Murder Scene Set for Today By David Yonke Toledo Blade April 21, 2006 http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060421/NEWS02/60421009 After four days of in-depth interviews, a jury of 12 people and four alternates was seated yesterday in the murder trial of the Rev. Gerald Robinson. Opening statements are scheduled this morning in Lucas County Common Pleas Court in what is believed to be the first U.S. trial of a Roman Catholic priest accused of killing a Roman Catholic nun. The court did not specify which jurors are regulars and which are alternates. Ten jurors are women; six are men. Prospective jurors' religious backgrounds, affiliations, and beliefs were frequently questioned by Judge Thomas Osowik and attorneys during the selection process, which began Monday. Of the 16 who made the jury, eight have no religious affiliations, four are Catholics, two are United Methodists, one is Lutheran, and one is Baptist, based on courtroom interviews. Judge Osowik, elected to Common Pleas Court in November, 2004, is a Roman Catholic. Some aspects of the prosecutors' case were broached yesterday during three hours of juror interviews by Dean Mandros, one of three assistant county prosecutors handling the case. He told prospective jurors, for example, that the state does not need to prove a motive — only that Father Robinson commit-ted the murder. He asked them if anyone would have a difficult time convicting the priest, if the evidence merits, without knowing why he did it. Mr. Mandros also used a jigsaw puzzle to illustrate the state's case. If a person is putting together a puzzle that features a lighthouse, you can tell what the subject is even if a few pieces of sky or waves are missing, he said. He reminded prospective jurors they must view Father Robinson, who was placed on leave after his arrest and has since retired, as they would any other defendant and not hold him in a higher regard because he is a priest. "The white collar is not some sort of halo that will prevent him from human temptation," Mr. Mandros said. Father Robinson, now 68, is charged in the murder of 71-year-old Sister Margaret Ann Pahl. The nun's body was found strangled and stabbed multiple times in the sacristy of the then-Mercy Hospital the day before Easter, 1980. The Lucas County cold-case squad reopened the murder case in December, 2003, after another woman alleged she was the victim of ritual abuse as a child by a group that included several priests, including Father Robinson. Investigators recalled that the priest was a suspect in the 1980 murder and took a new look at the evidence, ultimately leading to Father Robinson's arrest on April 23, 2004. If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of life in prison. The jury selection process, which included individual interviews of 85 people, went longer than expected and pushed opening statements back a day. During the sessions, Judge Osowik and attorneys focused on three main issues: how serving on a jury for up to a month would affect jobs and family; whether the prospective jurors had formed opinions on the case based on media reports, and whether religious views might interfere with their ability to be fair and impartial. A total of 59 made the cut and yesterday were divided into two groups based on their previously assigned juror numbers. After the first 24 were seated in the jury box, five were dismissed — four because of work concerns and one because of a family emergency — and were replaced from the second group of 35 who were seated in the back of the courtroom. After agreeing on 24 finalists, Judge Osowik and the legal teams for the defense and prosecution left the courtroom and met behind closed doors for about 45 minutes to make their selections. Both the defense and prosecution were allowed up to four peremptory challenges with which they could eliminate prospective jurors without explanation. It could not be determined whether any of them were used. After today's opening statements, jurors are scheduled to be taken by bus to the former Mercy Hospital, now a college, where they will view the crime scene and the apartment where Father Robinson, then the hospital's chaplain, lived at the time. About five of the 45 seats in the courtroom are expected to be open to the public, according to Mark Lair, director of the office of court deputies. Twenty are designated for media, and the defense and prosecution get 10 seats apiece. Court TV plans to cover the trial.
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