By David Yonke
Toledo Blade
April 26, 2006
http://toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060426/NEWS02/604260375
Prosecutors in the Rev. Gerald Robinson's murder trial yesterday called a deputy coroner, a detective, and a forensic pathologist to the witness stand to build their case that a sword-shaped letter opener found in the priest's apartment was used to kill Sister Margaret Ann Pahl 26 years ago.
The tip of the letter opener's blade "was a perfect fit" in a wound found in the jawbone of the nun's exhumed body, Dr. Diane Barnett, a Lucas County deputy coroner, told jurors in Lucas County Common Pleas Court.
 |
|
Lucas County deputy coroner Dr. Diane Barnett testifies about a letter opener. Photo by The Blade |
Sister Margaret Ann was found slain on the sacristy floor in Toledo's Mercy Hospital, now a college, on April 5, 1980.
She had been choked nearly to death, stabbed 31 times, and her undergarments were pulled down to her ankles and her jumper was pulled up over her chest.
 |
|
Toledo police Detective Terry Cousino said bloody imprints on an altar cloth match the shape of a specific letter opener. Photo by The Blade/Andy Morrison |
A detective in the Toledo police department's scientific investigations unit testified that the killer first covered the 71-year-old nun with an altar cloth and stabbed her nine times over the heart in the shape of an upside down cross, then removed the cloth and stabbed her 22 more times.
Detective Terry Cousino said those first nine stab wounds formed the shape of an inverted cross so precisely that he believes the killer placed a cross on the body and stabbed around it, using it as a template.
He also pointed out a number of bloody imprints on the cloth that he said matched the size and shape of the letter opener. Using blood-transfer pattern analysis, he linked stains on the cloth to the shape and details of the letter opener, showing photographs in which the instrument and stains aligned.
The detective put on rubber gloves and spread the altar cloth on the courtroom floor yesterday and the jury left the jury box to walk around the 10-foot-long piece of linen and inspect its many bloodstains and punctures.
 |
|
Defense attorney Nicole Khoury confers with Rev. Gerald Robinson. Photo by The Blade/Andy Morrison |
Detective Cousino said he searched for a similar letter opener, checking with collectors and searching thousands of listings on the eBay Internet auction site, but could not find any.
Father Robinson, a Roman Catholic priest who was ordained in Toledo's Rosary Cathedral in 1964, served as Mercy Hospital's chaplain at the time of the murder and presided at Sister Margaret Ann's funeral.
Shortly after his arrest on April 23, 2004, Father Robinson was placed on leave by Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair and has since retired. He wears his clerical collar in court.
Defense attorneys are challenging the state's evidence as circumstantial, saying that important inconsistencies and discrepancies will raise reasonable doubt among jurors.
Defense attorney Alan Konop challenged retired police Lt. William Kina over missing reports from 1980 and a report that retired Toledo police criminalist Josh Franks made 26 years ago, saying the victim's stab wounds could have been made by a pair of scissors.
Dr. Barnett, a deputy coroner since 1985 who is on the county's cold-case team, testified for 90 minutes, displaying photos and autopsy charts of the victim's wounds and using a medical model of a human throat to illustrate how the nun was choked.
She said she believes the nun was choked with a soft ligature, such as a piece of cloth, because the nun's entire necklace and cross made an impression in her skin.
She said she believes Sister Margaret Ann died from the combination of choking and stab wounds, and could not have survived more than "5 or 10 minutes" after the attack.
Dr. Barnett reviewed information from an autopsy performed on the nun the day she died by Dr. Renate Fazekas, former county forensic pathologist.
She also explained the results of a second autopsy, which she performed on Sister Margaret Ann's body after a May 20, 2004, exhumation to obtain DNA samples.
Dr. Barnett and Julie Saul, director of forensic anthropology for the Lucas County coroner's office, said the letter opener's eight-inch blade had a distinctive, four-sided shape that yielded a "weapon signature" in the victim's body.
They said they found a small but clear indentation in Sister Margaret Ann's lower left jawbone. A section about four inches long was removed and was introduced as evidence yesterday inside a plastic bag.
Dr. Barnett said she carefully placed the tip of the letter opener in the indentation found in the jawbone and "it was a perfect fit."
She said Sister Margaret Ann's exhumed body was well-preserved.
"Believe it or not, 24 years later you could actually see many of the stab wounds in the skin," she said.
Earlier yesterday, Lieutenant Kina, who was on the witness stand when court adjourned Monday, said he and Detective Art Marx found the saber-shaped letter opener in a desk drawer in Father Robinson's hospital apartment after the priest consented to a search on April 18, 1980.
Mr. Franks testified that the letter opener "was sumptuously clean" when he inspected it - no fingerprints, no dust, no bloodstains, no smear marks.
He said he pried off a circular medallion with an image of the U.S. Capitol building and a wax museum logo, and tested a small particle for possible blood. The result was positive, but the material was too small for more conclusive tests.
Mr. Franks also acknowledged under cross-examination that there are occasional "false positive" results.
Asked by Chris Anderson, a Lucas County assistant prosecutor, if he used DNA tests in 1980, Mr. Franks chuckled.
"No DNA then," he said. "No e-mails, either."
Father Robinson maintains his innocence. He is believed to be the first U.S. Roman Catholic priest to be tried for murder of a Roman Catholic nun.
Contact David Yonke at:
dyonke@theblade.com
or 419-724-6154.
RECENT RELATED ARTICLES
• Experts Testify on Bloodstain Patterns, Dna
• Witnesses Recall Scene in Priest's Murder Trial: Testimony Begins in Nun's Slaying
• Breakaway Church Has Mass for Accused Priest, Slain Nun
• Jury Sees Murder Scene; Opening Statements Given in Priest's Trial
• Jurors in Priest Trial Visit Scene of the Crime
• Final Jury Selections Today in Priest's Trial
• Jury Selection Continues in Robinson Trial
• Lawyers Whittle Jury Pool for Priest: Financial Hardship, Health, and Religious Beliefs Are Cited
• Religious Beliefs a Factor in Jury Selection
• Priest's Murder Trial Starts; Potential Jurors Quizzed in Nun's Slaying
• No Shortage of Drama As Priest's Trial Opens
• Jury Selection off to Slow Start in Murder Trial
• Landmark Murder Trial of Priest to Start Monday; Toledo Nun Was Killed Day before Easter '80
• High Drama in Court
• Kirk - Prayer
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.