Toledo Catholic priest Gerald Robinson’s conviction reaffirmed

Toledo Blade ^ | July 12, 2008 | DAVID YONKE

[PAR35]

In an unusually long and detailed ruling, the Ohio 6th District Court of Appeals yesterday upheld the 2006 conviction of Toledo Catholic priest Gerald Robinson for the 1980 murder of a nun.

-snip-

Robinson, 70, was arrested by Lucas County cold case investigators on April 23, 2004, and convicted on May 11, 2006, for the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.

The 71-year-old nun had been choked nearly to death and then stabbed 31 times in the chest, neck, and face with a saber-shaped letter opener. Her partly naked body was found by another nun on the morning of April 5, 1980 — Holy Saturday — on the floor of the sacristy, next to the chapel, of the former Mercy Hospital in Toledo.

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[PAR35]

Detailed story on the basis of the ruling at the link.

[OpusatFR]

This is troubling in a number of ways.

The only evidence is the letter opener, which according to Henry Lee, the renowed forensic scientist, may have been the weapon because of the wounds and a tiny blood stain on the altar cloth which may have contained mirror impression of the border of the medallion in it.

DNA which didn’t match.

~And the testimony of a 42 year old woman who “remembered” ritualized Satanic abuse at the hands of the priest and others as a four year old.

Recovered memories are, in the main, false and a lot of accusations in the 80s and 90s were based on this faulty psychiatric practice.

That 4% of the lavender mafia did disgrace the church over many decades is true.

But, a case brought forward based on recovered memories, and the lack of evidence, gives one pause to wonder.

[dangus]

Why did the defense seem to think that prosecutors’ suggestion of Satanism was somehow exculpatory? From the description of the attack, such a motive seems consistent with the evidence.

[dangus]

I suppose that if someone wanted to frame a priest, in an era of national anti-Catholic hysteria, Satanism would be a means. And it’s not like those who would want to frame a priest wouldn’t mind dabbling in a little occultist symbolism themselves.

[dangus]

Wikipedia’s description of the event is, well, damning of the prosecutors:

>> Bloodstains found on the altar cloth were also consistent with the shape of the letter opener, although one prosecution witness also conceded that the stains appeared to match a pair of scissors which were missing from the scene. Robinson was questioned about the crime in 1980, but was not charged. The case remained unsolved, with no new leads, until 2003 when police received a letter from a woman who claimed that Robinson had sexually abused her when she was a child in a series of satanic cult rituals that also involved human sacrifice. <<

Wow. Absent the abuse claims, the police didn’t think the priest’s connection to the crime was even strong enough to investigate him? And did the police ever make any further connections to other murders?

>> Male DNA was found underneath the sister’s fingernails and on her underwear, which did not match the DNA of Robinson. Prosecutors argued that the DNA was an “artifact,” in other words it must have come from an unrelated source after the murder. <<

And just who got their DNA under her nails and on her underwear AFTER her murder??? Even if it were just an artifact, wouldn’t the person who left such an artifact be the top suspect in the murder anyway?

[dangus]

Of course, then the fascinating (horrifying) thing is that if the testimony of the ritually abused women (there was more than one) is true to form the basis of a conviction, then what of the other allegations in that testimony?

This is not to say that there actually WERE human sacrifices, etc. It’s quite plausible that the perpetrators were trying to shock their victims into silence or a loss of credibility by making them BELIEVE such practices were going on. If a priest tells a little girl that the Hawaiian Punch or communion wine is blood from murdered children, wouldn’t the child believe it? Is it unthinkable that the child even recalls false evidence for this belief? Could the strewn naked dolls of a one victim be recakked as naked, lifeless bodies by another terrorized, shocked victim?

[OpusatFR]

The fact that the 42 year old woman was not identified bothers me.

This “syndrome” was prevalent in the 80’s and I saw an enormous amount of damage to families, and the imprisonment of people based on therapist led hysteria.