By David Yonke
Toledo Blade
April 27, 2006
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Famed forensic investigator Dr. Henry Lee today showed jurors in the murder trial of the Rev. Gerald Robinson how he used chemicals to enhance bloodstains on the altar cloth found at the scene of a nun's slaying 26 years ago.
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The Rev. Gerald Robinson confers with attorneys Alan Konop and Nicole Khoury as Dr. Henry Lee, professor of forensics at the University of New Haven, testifies about blood spatter. Photo by The Blade/Andy Morrison |
Father Robinson is charged with murder in the strangulation and stabbing death of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl on Holy Saturday, 1980.
Dr. Lee, the Taiwan-born forensic expert best known for his testimony for the defense in the O.J. Simpson trial, testified for some 40 minutes. He pointed out similarities between bloody imprints on the altar cloth and the shape of a letter opener found in Father Robinson's apartment.
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Diane Gehres Photo by The Blade Photos/Andy Morrison |
As a previous forensic expert testified yesterday, Dr. Lee said he could detect certain elements of an image in a bloodstain that seemed to match a medallion on the letter opener.
But the forensic expert said he could not say the letter opener was used in the slaying, only that he could not exclude that it was used.
At one point, Dr. Lee jokingly told prosecutors that he couldn't remember which Toledo detective first approached him about the investigation, saying that "all Caucasians look alike."
He said he first came to Toledo in December, 2004, and inspected the sacristy of the Mercy Hospital chapel where the killing occurred. Dr. Lee said he also studied police photos and conducted a "limited" crime scene recreation.
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Defense attorney John Thebes questions prosecution witness Diane Gehres. Photo by The Blade Photos |
There were no signs of a struggle — no furniture overturned, no items out of place — and the blood on the victim's body showed no signs of dripping, which led him to conclude that the stab wounds were inflicted while Sister Margaret Ann was lying prone on the floor, he said.
Earlier today, DNA specialists said that material found in clippings from the nun's fingernails had a male chromosome and did not come from Father Robinson.
Prosecutors challenged the results by questioning whether the male DNA could have come from someone who sneezed or breathed on the nails any time over the last 26 years, and the experts said that was possible.
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