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	Jurors Go to Chapel in Priest's Murder Trial The Cleric Is Accused of Killing a Nun in 1980. the Visit to the Sacristy Crime Scene and Opening Arguments Are Part of the Day's Proceedings By P.J. Huffstutter Los Angeles Times April 22, 2006 http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-priest22apr22,1,6621787.story?ctrack=1&cset=true TOLEDO, Ohio — The jurors walked through the hospital chapel sacristy Friday morning, a seemingly stoic group touring the scene of a crime that has chilled this town for more than a quarter-century. On a warm April morning in 1980, a nun found the mutilated body of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl sprawled on the floor of the tiny room, in the shadow of a small wooden crucifix. On Friday, 16 jurors brushed past wooden drawers filled with priestly vestments, taking in the place where a killer struck as the 71-year-old Pahl was preparing for communion services. Father Gerald Robinson — a popular and now frail 68-year-old Roman Catholic priest who helped preside over Pahl's funeral Mass — is charged in her death. The nun was choked so hard that the blood vessels in her eyes burst and bones in her neck were crushed. While she was still breathing, the killer stabbed Pahl 31 times. Some of the wounds formed the shape of an upside-down cross. The killer then pulled down her undergarments, prosecutors said, and left her exposed on the pink-speckled terrazzo floor. "It may have taken 26 years to solve this murder, but we have done so," prosecutor Dean Mandros told the jury earlier in the day during opening arguments at Lucas County Common Pleas Court. "Later is better than never." Standing behind Robinson, resting one hand on the priest's shoulders, attorney Alan Konop countered that none of the evidence directly tied his client to the crime. He said DNA evidence, including samples taken from beneath Pahl's fingernails, did not match Robinson. He also said testimony from newly found witnesses contradicted statements taken at the time of the murder. "There are important inconsistencies and discrepancies in the evidence," Konop said. "There will be reasonable doubt … to the point that the puzzle pieces don't fit." Slumped in an orange leather chair, his face pale, Robinson spent most of the morning listening to the opening arguments with his eyes closed. The priest, who is on leave from the church and free on bail, could face life in prison. County prosecutors and defense attorneys would not comment on the case outside of court, citing a gag order. The case has divided the faithful in this community, where neighborhoods often are referred to by the name of the local church and where one out of every four residents is Catholic. Some, appalled by the murder and Robinson's alleged involvement, have questioned their faith. At least a few say they have left the church altogether. But one group of parishioners, loyal to Robinson, has taken out loans against their homes to help pay for his defense. During Friday's court session, Mandros told the jurors that Robinson was considered a suspect early on. Police found a letter opener, in the shape of a sword, in the priest's residence, just down a hallway from the sacristy. At least one witness saw Robinson outside the chapel right before the slaying, Mandros said, and another witness heard footsteps racing from the sacristy and down to the priest's rooms. When a nun unlocked the chapel later that Easter weekend, "she let out a scream heard through the hospital because she saw the body of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl stretched naked across the floor," Mandros said. Soon afterward, Robinson told police that he'd heard the confession of the person who killed Pahl, but later admitted he had lied. Weeks of investigation failed to yield enough evidence to charge Robinson or anyone else, Mandros told jurors. The case languished in the police department's cold-case file until 2003, when an unidentified woman told authorities that Robinson was part of a group of priests who had sexually molested her when she was a child and forced her to take part in Satanic rituals. Police then decided to reexamine the Pahl case, asking outside experts to review the evidence. Among other things, Mandros said, they found that cuts in an altar cloth, as well as entry wounds on the nun's body, matched the letter opener's four-sided blade.
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