The Case against Rev. Robinson: What the Jury Didn't Hear, by Harriet Ryan, Court TV, May 11, 2006

The Case against Rev. Robinson: What the Jury Didn't Hear

By Harriet Ryan
Court TV
May 11, 2006

http://www.courttv.com/trials/priest/051106_jurydidnthear_ctv.html

TOLEDO, Ohio — The jury that convicted the Rev. Gerald Robinson Thursday listened to 41 witnesses during the three-week trial, but they did not hear every piece of information authorities uncovered in the course of their investigation.

Prosecutors were barred by law from presenting some evidence against the priest. Other information was deemed irrelevant to the murder of Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl or open to too many interpretations to benefit their case. Among the things jurors did not hear:

The Rev. Gerald Robinson in 1980

The polygraph. Two weeks after the murder, Robinson failed a lie detector exam given by a police investigator. A retest administered by a polygrapher hired by the Catholic diocese the next month was inconclusive. The defense has said the priest was too exhausted and stressed from the police interrogation for the test to be effective.

S&M allegation. In 2003, a nun told a diocesan panel that she was sexually abused by Robinson when she was 15. She claimed that another priest paid her father to let Robinson engage her in sadomasochistic acts involving a whip. The same woman also alleged she was raped repeatedly as a girl during satanic rituals led by priests. Authorities have not been able to substantiate or disprove her charges.

Occult book. When police searched Robinson's home in 2004, they found a pamphlet entitled "The Occult." Many passages were underlined, including one describing a black Mass in which "an innocent" was used as an altar. The booklet was published by a Catholic group in the 1970s, before the murder, but it was unclear whether Robinson obtained it before or after the murder.

Swiatecki's pleas. When police interviewed Robinson about two weeks after the murder, the other hospital chaplain, Rev. Jerome Swiatecki, accompanied him to the station. According to the detectives, Swiatecki — the son of a police officer — emphatically and repeatedly urged Robinson to "just tell them the truth." Some in law enforcement have speculated that Robinson confessed to Swiatecki, but that Swiatecki would have been bound by the seal of the confessional not to reveal any details.

Coffin photos. Police officers searching Robinson's house in 2004 found hundreds of photos of corpses in coffins. Some appeared to be very old and European. Although taking pictures of dead relatives is common among some ethnic traditions, the sheer number in the priest's house suggested that not all of the dead were family members.