Jury in priest's murder trial visits site of nun's 1980 killing

Published: 2006-04-25

TOLEDO, Ohio (CNS) -- A jury visited the site of the 1980 murder of a Catholic nun April 21 as the murder trial of Father Gerald Robinson, a suspended priest of the Toledo Diocese, ended its first week. Mercy Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, 71, was strangled and then stabbed 31 times in the chapel at Toledo Mercy Hospital, where she and Father Robinson both worked at the time. Father Robinson, now 68, was one of two hospital chaplains in 1980 at Toledo Mercy, which has since closed. The priest was not charged in Sister Margaret Ann's murder until 2004, after a woman accused him and others of sexual abuse, satanic cultic activity and other crimes. A 12-member jury and four alternates -- 10 women and six men -- were chosen for the trial, which opened April 17 with four days of jury selection and was expected to last three to four weeks.

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