Priest Stands Trial In Murder Of Nun
Jury selection is expected to wrap up today in the murder trial of a Toledo priest accused of killing a nun 26 years ago.
Attorneys for Reverend Gerald Robinson and prosecutors are choosing 12 jurors and four alternates for a trial that could last up to four weeks. Eighty-five people have been interviewed, in a process that began Monday. Four people have been dismissed after expressing strong positive or negative views about the Catholic church and its clergy.
Robinson is charged with strangling and stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in 1980 at the hospital where they both worked. The jury is scheduled to visit the hospital after opening arguments, which are expected to start tomorrow.
CBS News correspondent Cynthia Bowers reported on The Early Show that this is believed to mark the first time a priest has ever faced murder charges in the death of a nun.
The gruesome killing happened just before Easter, 26 years ago. The body of sister Margaret Ann Pahl was found in the chapel of Mercy Hospital draped in an altar cloth, surrounded by candles. The elderly nun had been strangled and stabbed up to 32 times. Bowers reported that Toledo police suspected Robinson at the time. He was Pahl's co-worker at the hospital, and police questioned him after the murder. They even thought he may have used a letter opener in the killing, but they didn't have enough evidence to indict.
As time passed, the victim's family started losing hope that justice would ever be done.
"After all these years, I really didn't think they'd ever find out who it was," said Pahl's sister, Catherine Flegal.
Two years ago the cold case squad got a break. As part of an ongoing investigation into allegations of sex abuse by priests, a Toledo woman came forward, claiming she'd been victimized during Satanic rituals. Although her claim was never substantiated, her mention of Father Robinson convinced detectives to take a new look at old evidence. CSI-style blood spatter technology enabled them to zero in on the murder weapon and murderer.
"When a weapon is laid down or anything is laid down it leaves a pattern," explained Steve Forrester of the Toledo cold case squad. "What we've basically done is linked what we think is the murder weapon to the suspect."
Soon after, in April 2004, Robinson was taken into custody, leaving his long-time parishioners shaken to the core. Some of the faithful even mortgaged their homes to help pay for his defense, Bowers reported.
Even before opening arguments the proceedings were already drawing protests from other Catholics, including victims' support groups, who worry the power associated with the priesthood could undermine justice for Margaret Pahl.
"When you see a priest on trial for murder who is allowed to wear his priest garb, we think he creates an undue bias," said Claudia Vercellotti, an advocate for victims of priest sex abuse.
Robinson has been placed on leave by the Catholic diocese but has been allowed to continue wearing his collar.