BishopAccountability.org
	Documents Say Priest Failed Lie Detector WTOL [Toledo OH] February 28, 2005 TOLEDO -- A Roman Catholic priest accused of strangling and stabbing a nun in 1980 failed one of two lie detector tests in the days after the killing, according to court documents released Monday. The Rev. Gerald Robinson's failed test indicated he was involved with the nun's death, according to a document filed by investigators. A second polygraph test however indicated that Robinson "passed" the test, but investigators say the results were marginal and inconclusive. Robinson's attorney, Alan Konop, would only say that lie detector tests mentioned in the search warrants were "not a true representation of what happened." He did note that Robinson passed a second polygraph test, clouding the results of the first. Neither test is admissable in court. The reports of the lie detectors tests came in a series of search warrants which were opened today and given to the news media by the courts. The opened warrants also indicate that Toledo Police investigators tried to months to obtain so called "secret archive" files from the Diocese and finally in September of 2004, they obtained search warrants to look for those alleged files at the Catholic offices in downtown Toledo. The Diocese of Toledo issued a statement late this afternoon disputing the existence of a "secret archive." The statement of Leonard Bishop Blair says the Diocese of Toledo has never maintained such an archive and there is nothing more for the church to turn over to police regarding the investigation of Father Gerald Robinson. They say all confidential information collected by the church is now in the hands of the prosecutor and police. It was alleged in the request for the search warrants that the church's Code of Canon Law would have not only required the church to conduct an investigation, but would have required the chirch to keep a secret archive which can be accessed only by the bishop. Based on those laws, investigators sought to find any concealed or hidden evidence in the church offices regarding the murder of Sister Margaret Pahl or any investigation of Father Robinson. Robinson, 66, was arrested last April in the slaying of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl during Easter weekend in 1980. Her body was discovered in a chapel at Mercy Hospital, covered by an altar cloth. Robinson, who is free on bond, is scheduled to go on trial October 17. Lucas County Common Pleas Judge Thomas Osowik ordered the two search warrants unsealed after The Toledo Blade argued that they were public records. The county prosecutor's office initially opposed The Blade's request but then decided on Friday not to fight the judge's decision to release the records. The affidavits were filed to support two police searches conducted in September at the Toledo Catholic Diocese. According to the warrants, investigators were searching for information on the so called "secret archives," the keys and combinations to the secret archives, filing cabinets, documents and records, both paper and electronic. According to the warrants, police seized a file marked "Father Robinson File" that contained 148 pages related to Robinson's service. The search warrant also indicates that the diocese did their own investigation after the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in 1980 and then again in April of 2004. The second investigation resulted in restriction against Father Robinson from peforming public ministry and police believe, citing Canon Law, that Bishop Blair believes Father Robinson was involved in the murder. The Diocese however, also disputes that theory, saying is is "utterly false" claiming the Bishop was merely obliged to place Robinson on leave once charges had been filed against him. Members of the group "Survivors Networks of those Abused by Priets" reacted to the search warrants a short time ago. "They've lied to us. They've told us that these don't exist. They've said that they don't maintain secret files and what these affidavits show is what we've suspected all along, that they do keep secret files," said Claudia Vercelotti of SNAP. There were also portions of the serach warrants that were whited out. Those are part of the documents that the judge did not believe were public record.
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