Man who abducted Georgia nuns pleads guilty, is spared death penalty

Published: 2005-07-07

HAMILTON, Ga. (CNS) -- A man who killed his father, then abducted two nuns and killed one of them in 2003 pleaded guilty to several crimes July 1 in a Georgia courtroom in a deal that spares him the death penalty and acknowledges the church's request that he not be put to death. The defendant, Adrian O. Robinson, was already serving a life sentence in Virginia, where he took the two women after taking them as hostages from Christ the King Catholic Church in Pine Mountain, Ga., in March 2003. In June 2003 he pleaded guilty in Virginia to charges including capital murder and abduction. He decapitated one of the nuns, 68-year-old Sister Philomena Fogarty. The other one, Sister Lucie Kristofik, escaped from a motel room in Norfolk, Va., where she was being held and led police to Robinson. Both were members of the Franciscan Missionaries of Mary. Family members said Robinson was mentally ill, and they also opposed the death penalty.

Copyright (c) 2005 Catholic News Service /U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The CNS news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the prior written authority of Catholic News Service .