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	First Witnesses Testify against Priest Investigator Cites Letter Opener, Sounds By James Ewinger Cleveland Plain Dealer April 25, 2006 http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf? /base/news/1145954007127950.xml&coll=2 Toledo — Three witnesses laid a foundation Monday for the state's case against a Roman Catholic priest accused of murdering a nun 26 years ago. It was the first day of testimony in Lucas County Common Pleas Court against the Rev. Gerald Robinson, 68, a suspect almost from the beginning, though he was not arrested and charged until 2004. He is accused of choking Sister Margaret Ann Pahl on Holy Saturday in 1980, then stabbing her 31 times and leaving her body in the chapel of Toledo's Mercy Hospital, where both worked. Robbery and rape were ruled out because nothing of value was taken and there was no evidence of a sexual assault, although the nun's body was found with her jumper pulled up and her undergarments down around her ankles. The storm of stab wounds told police that she knew her assailant. The strongest evidence came toward the end of the day from William Kina, a Toledo police lieutenant who led the murder investigation until his retirement in 1981. Kina spoke of two witnesses interviewed by police in 1980 who heard someone running from the chapel toward where Robinson's modest quarters were located. Student nurses also lived there, but most were gone for Easter weekend, Kina said. Robinson initially told police that the killer had confessed to him, but the priest quickly withdrew that claim, Kina testified. He described how he and Detective Arthur Marx got Robinson's permission to search his quarters and how they found a saber-shaped letter opener in his desk. The coroner had told detectives to look for a knife with a blade at least 3 inches long but not wider than half an inch. The 6-inch opener had a four-sided blade that fit the description. Assistant Lucas County Prosecutor Dean Mandros said in his opening statement Friday that the blade fit an unusual wound in Pahl's face like a key in a lock. Kina said that during a second interrogation of Robinson, there was a knock on the door of the interview room, and Deputy Chief Ray Vetter and a monsignor from the Toledo Catholic Diocese came in. Kina was directed to leave the room, and the deputy chief and monsignor spoke privately to Robinson and then left. His testimony did not indicate what they discussed or even whether Kina knew what was said. But allegations of interference by the diocese have hung over the case since a Toledo Blade investigation revealed a long history of collusion between police and church officials in sex-abuse cases. The newspaper also reported that the diocese withheld documents from police during the murder investigation despite a pledge to cooperate. The possibility that the slaying was part of a ritual is another specter hanging over the case. Sister Phyllis Ann Gerold, hospital administrator in 1980, testified that when she first saw Pahl's body in the chapel, she described it as ritually posed because it was so straight, with her limbs perfectly aligned. Gerold had a background in nursing, had seen many dead bodies, and said, "people don't die straight." Mandros has said he will not offer a motive, but he elicited the hint of one from Kina and Gerold. The nun testified that Pahl was a retired hospital CEO, used to speaking her mind, and that by then, she was in charge of the hospital's private chapel. The retired policeman said Pahl had become distraught over the way Robinson cut short the Good Friday Mass the day before she was killed. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: jewinger@plaind.com, 216-999-3905
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