Article published October 31, 2006
Robinson is denied release on bond
Priest asked to be freed during appeal
By MARK REITER
BLADE STAFF WRITER
Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Osowik yesterday denied convicted murderer Gerald Robinson's request to be released from a state prison while the appeal of his conviction for killing a nun in 1980 works its way through the courts.
Judge Osowik flatly rejected the motion of Robinson's attorney, John Donahue, who asked that the 68-year-old priest be released on a $250,000 property bond. The ruling stems from a motion that Mr. Donahue filed two weeks ago questioning the circumstantial evidence and testimony that jurors considered to convict Robinson on May 11 for the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
The request from the attorney included an affidavit by Robinson, who swore under oath that he didn't kill the 71-year-old nun April 5, 1980, the day before Easter, in the chapel at the former Mercy Hospital near downtown Toledo. She was preparing the chapel for the Holy Saturday vigil services that were scheduled to be celebrated later that day.
A jury found Robinson guilty of murder after a three-week trial. The nun was stabbed nearly 30 times with a dagger-style letter opener. She also was choked.
Robinson, a chaplain at the hospital, is serving 15 years to life in the Hocking Correctional Institution in southeast Ohio.
In his six-page decision, Judge Osowik said the verdict reached by the jury wasn't made against the manifest weight of the evidence. "The court cannot find that the jury lost its way," wrote Judge Osowik, who was the trial's presiding judge and heard the same testimony jurors heard. "The defendant has not presented any argument that would warrant any suspension of the sentence imposed."
In denying the bond motion, Judge Osowik said Robinson's attorney made significant misstatements in his arguments in reference to trial evidence, including that the prosecution's case was based on Satanic worship allegations of a nun, the location of Robinson's apartment in the hospital, and the blade on the murder weapon was dull. "This is understandable as counsel was not one of the defendant's attorneys at trial."
Mr. Donahue filed a memorandum yesterday with the court in support of his Oct. 17 motion. However, the document didn't reach the judge's attention until later in the day, after he ruled.
In the filing, Mr. Donahue asked the court to consider the statements of two jurors who were interviewed by The Blade for an article published Sunday.
Prosecutor Julia Bates praised the ruling.
"The judge outlines very succinctly the misstatements in the defendant's motion, and quite succinctly states the basis for his conviction and incarceration. We agree with it," she said.
Mr. Donahue told The Blade last night he was not surprised that the ruling pointed out errors in evidence, mistakes that he explained were made because he didn't attend the trial.
"The bond motion relied on Court TV television coverage in order to try to present to the judge with my view of what the evidence was," he said.
Contact Mark Reiter at:
markreiter@theblade.com
or 419-213-2134.
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