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Posted Thursday, May 11, 2006 at 4:21 p.m. CDTToledo priest convicted of 1980 ritual killing of nun By BILL FROGAMENI
Toledo, Ohio Fr. Gerald Robinson, 68, of the Toledo diocese was convicted May 11 in the 26-year-old murder of a Roman Catholic nun, Sr. Margaret Ann Pahl, 71, who was killed in the sacristy of the hospital chapel where she was working on Holy Saturday in 1980.  | (CNS/Reuters) Fr. Gerald Robinson |
Prosecutors and witnesses said the murder contained elements of a ritual killing. Pahl was strangled, then stabbed up to 31 times; police said nine of the stab wounds formed an inverted crucifix over her heart. Pahl was then stripped, covered with an altar cloth and posed to look as if she'd been sexually assaulted, although she had not been. The Lucas County jury convicted Robinson after roughly two-and-a-half weeks of testimony and just six hours of deliberation. This is believed to be the first time a priest has been convicted of killing a nun. The death penalty was not in place in 1980, but Judge Thomas Osowik immediately imposed the automatic sentence of 15 years to life in prison. Robinson, who wore clerical clothing throughout the trial, was taken out of the court handcuffed behind his back. Speaking for the defense in a press conference, attorney John Thebes called Robinson "mild" and "meek." Thebes said "We respectfully disagree with the jury's verdict and we intend to appeal." The appeal must be filed within 30 days. The cold case of Pahl's murder raised the specter of cover ups by the police as well as officials of the Toledo diocese. During testimony, retired Toledo police detectives spoke of how they conducted a homicide interview with Robinson in 1980 that was interrupted by the former deputy chief of police and the now deceased Msgr. Jerome Schmit, an influential diocesan priest. The "highly unusual" interview ended, and Robinson was escorted from the building, said the detectives. Prosecutors later read a letter they said was written by the former chancellor of the diocese to the bishop at the time that indicated inside knowledge of the ongoing investigation into Robinson; in the letter, the chancellor indicated he came by the information from the deputy chief of police at the time, Ray Vetter. The investigation was reopened through several events (See NCR, Feb. 17). In June 2003, an unidentified woman went to the Toledo diocese seeking reimbursement for her therapy. She presented a letter claiming she was a childhood victim of clerical sexual abuse, but her allegations also reportedly claimed she was the victim of horrific Satanic/ritualistic abuse perpetrated by multiple Toledo priests -- including Robinson. She alleged sexual abuse, but also alleged murder at the hands of this supposed cult. Among other things, she described rituals involving rape, bestiality, animal mutilation and the murders of an infant and a 3-year-old child. One member of the diocesan review board for sexual abuse claims who heard "Jane Doe's" story believed the diocese was obligated to give the letter to authorities. A lawyer for the diocese, Tom Pletz, took a different view in two letters he sent the dissident review board member. Pletz stated "I can report that this person's [Jane Doe's] diocesan file was reviewed by the Lucas County prosecutor's office last year. Its contents thus have already been reported to the proper legal authorities." He also stated that the review board members didn't have a legal obligation to report the allegations since Jane Doe was over 18. The Lucas County prosecutor's office disagreed. Prosecutors say the Jane Doe letter was key in reopening the cold case investigation into Pahl's murder when they received it in December 2003, but it wasn't handed over by the church. Prosecutors only received the letter after Jane Doe entrusted it to Claudia Vercellotti, a Toledo SNAP leader, who gave it to the Ohio attorney general's office in September 2003 after she thought the diocese was stonewalling. The attorney general's office then forwarded the letter to Lucas County. Speaking after the verdict, Vercellotti said "The steel armor of cover up that's been so pervasive in my diocese has finally been cracked." She added: "I give credit to Jane Doe." On May 1, the prosecution presented Fr. Jeffrey Grob, associate vicar for canonical services for the Chicago archdiocese. Grob, an expert on canon law, exorcisms, ritualism and the occult, testified that the murder was ritualistic and done to mock the Catholic faith and/or Pahl. Fr. Grob believed the killer had a detailed understanding of Catholic ritual in order to subvert is so thoroughly. He said another nun or seminarian might have that kind of expertise, but "certainly a priest would have that kind of knowledge." Regarding the inverted cross wounds over Pahl's heart, Grob noted, "The image has been usurped for many centuries as an affront to the sacred." When he was interrogated in 1980, the detective in charge of the homicide division, William Kina, said Robinson told him and another detective that he had heard the confession of the real killer. Kina testified that Robinson, when questioned further, recanted this claim and told detectives he made it up because he felt nervous. Grob testified that the sanction for a priest violating the confessional seal is automatic excommunication. In Robinson's case, where no actual confession took place, Grob said the canonical consequences could still be very serious, although it might depend on circumstances surrounding the fabrication. Also on May 1, the prosecution presented Sgt. Steve Forrester, the lead investigator in the case. Forrester testified that police focused on Robinson in part, because, like Grob, they thought the killer possessed an in-depth knowledge of Catholicism and because all the other religious at the hospital could be accounted for. Given the extreme violence used in the murder, authorities also believe the killer knew Pahl, that the killing signified a kind of personal revenge, said Forrester. Bishop Leonard Blair issued a statement saying "This is a sad day for the diocese of Toledo." He requested prayers for all parties involved, including Pahl, her family, the Sisters of Mercy (Pahl's order,) and Robinson. [Bill Frogameni is a freelance writer living in Ann Arbor, Mich.] May 11, 2006, National Catholic Reporter |
