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  Lawyer: Priest Didn't Fail Polygraph
1st Lie Detector Test after Nun's Slaying Called Inconclusive

By John Seewer
The Associated Press, carried in Cincinnati Enquirer [Toledo OH]
March 2, 2005

TOLEDO - An attorney who once represented a Roman Catholic priest accused of killing a nun in 1980 said claims that the priest failed a lie detector test were wrong.

The attorney, Henry Herschel, sought on Tuesday to dispute court documents released a day earlier that included allegations that the Rev. Gerald Robinson failed one of two polygraph tests days after the killing.

The priest took two tests, and the first one produced results that could not determine whether Robinson was telling the truth, Herschel said.

The examiner who gave the test noted that Robinson needed to be in a calmer state, Herschel said, adding that Robinson had just spent several hours being questioned by police.

Another examiner, who administered the second test a few months later, determined that Robinson was probably telling the truth.

According to a court document filed by investigators, Robinson failed the first test and passed the second one.

Robinson, 66, was an initial suspect in the killing of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl during Easter weekend in 1980, but he was not arrested until last April - after police reopened the case.

Robinson, wearing a black suit and priest's collar, stood alongside Herschel on Tuesday but did not speak to reporters after the attorney finished his statement.

Herschel represented Robinson for about year during the initial investigation into the nun's death.

Her body was discovered in a chapel at Mercy Hospital, covered by an altar cloth.

Investigators have described it as a ritualistic slaying that had the police and the Toledo Catholic Diocese looking into claims of satanic sex abuse by priests.

Robinson, who is free on bond, is scheduled to go on trial Oct. 17.

 
 

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