Blood Stains Key In Nun Slay Case?

Bloodstains on an altar cloth and the forehead of a nun slain in 1980 could have come from a sword-shaped letter opener belonging to the priest accused of stabbing her, a medical examiner testified.

The stains were a key reason why prosecutors two years ago charged the Rev. Gerald Robinson with killing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl. Paulette Sutton, a medical examiner, told jurors Wednesday during Robinson's trial that of 18 bloodstains she examined on the cloth, most could have come from the letter opener.

Robinson, 68, was a suspect early on because he was near the chapel at the time Sister Pahl was killed. The two worked together closely, and Robinson presided over her funeral. He could get life in prison if convicted of murder.

Testimony in the case is set to continue Thursday.

The bloodstained altar cloth was found in a hospital chapel where the nun's body was discovered a day before Easter. Police found the letter opener in Robinson's desk.

Assistant Prosecutor Dean Mandros said the murder was methodical and perhaps spiritual, CBS News correspondent Michelle Miller reports.

"He stabbed her over the heart, nine times. Nine piercings of her flesh in the shape of an upside down cross," Mandros said. "(Then) he takes off the altar cloth and stabs her 22 more times."

Detective Terry Cousino testified that he had never seen one like it, and said its shape was consistent with punctures in the altar cloth. He said mirror-image blood stains indicated the cloth had been folded in half over the nun's body.

However, a DNA expert testified that blood on the altar cloth and DNA traces on the nun's underwear did not come from Robinson. The DNA found was likely from a man, but tests did not link the sample to the priest, said Cassandra Agosti, a forensic analyst at the state crime lab.

Sutton told jurors that one faint stain showed what looked like the outline of the U.S. Capitol, which was on a dime-sized medallion on the letter opener.

A bloodstain on Sister Pahl's forehead also was a potential match with the letter opener, Sutton testified. Other stains on the nearly 10-foot-long altar cloth could have been made by the letter opener's ribbed handle, she said.

Prosecutors said the trace of DNA on the nun's underwear was so small that tests showing it came from a man might have been wrong, or the sample could have been left by investigators on the scene or in the coroner's office.

Prosecutors don't plan to introduce a motive in the case, Miller reports. They are instead relying on physical evidence such as the letter opener to build their case.

Agosti also testified that the letter opener had a substance on it that may have been blood, but said she could not prove that it was.

"It could be a lot of things?" asked defense attorney John Thebes. Agosti answered yes.

Under questioning from Thebes, Sutton conceded it was possible that another object could have created the patterns, but said that the letter opener could not be ruled out.

"I'm not going to get an absolute answer," she said.