BishopAccountability.org
	Supporters Raise Money for Priest Convicted of Killing Nun Associated Press, carrried in Beacon Journal October 9, 2006 http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/state/15716439.htm Toledo, Ohio - More than 100 people donated a minimum of $15 for a chicken dinner to raise money for a priest convicted of killing a nun. The money will help pay for the priest's appeal of his murder conviction. A jury in May found the Rev. Gerald Robinson guilty of choking and stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl while she was preparing a hospital chapel for Easter weekend services in 1980. He was sentenced to a mandatory term of 15 years to life in prison. Organizers of Sunday's fundraiser ran out of food and parking at a private banquet hall. They did not say how much money was raised. "I don't know if he is guilty or not. I'm here to support him because he always treated me with respect," said Gary Jankowski, a former altar boy for Robinson. "I want to help support him to mount the best defense he can so the system can work." Robinson had built a faithful following in his hometown, especially in the neighborhoods where he delivered sermons and heard confessions in Polish. Jankowski said Robinson was a decent man who treated him well. Most of those attending the dinner avoided reporters outside the hall. A small group of protesters stood outside the event, with one holding up a photo of Sister Pahl. They were upset about an announcement in a church bulletin about the chicken-dinner. A spokesman for the Diocese of Toledo said it told parishes not to advertise the event. "I want my church not to be a conduit to raise money for a convicted murderer who murdered a Roman Catholic nun," said Claudia Vercellotti of Toledo, who is a coordinator of the Survivors Network of those Abused by Priests. Attorney John Donahue, who is representing Robinson in the appeal, said he plans to visit the priest this week and tell him about the turnout. "I was almost reduced to tears when I heard his side of the story," he said. Robinson is being held at Hocking Correctional Facility in Nelsonville, about 60 miles southeast of Columbus. Robinson, who had worked closely with Sister Pahl as the hospital chaplain and presided at her funeral Mass, emerged as a suspect when police found a sword-shaped letter opener in his desk drawer two weeks after the killing. Yet he was not charged for years because prosecutors said there was not enough evidence. Investigators reopened the case in late 2003 and he was charged in 2004.
Any original material on these pages is copyright © BishopAccountability.org 2004. Reproduce freely with attribution.