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	Crucifix Possibly Stabbing Template Detective Testifies in Priest's Murder Trial By James Ewinger Cleveland Plain Dealer April 26, 2006 http://www.cleveland.com/news/plaindealer/index.ssf? /base/news/1146040609219270.xml&coll=2 Toledo- Without ever uttering the word "ritual," a Toledo detective testified that a crucifix may have been used as a template for nine stab wounds that killed a nun in 1980 - leaving the perfectly defined shape of an inverted cross on her chest. The stab wounds are just some of the more lurid details in the state's case against the Rev. Gerald Robinson, a 68-year-old Roman Catholic priest on trial for the murder. He is accused of stabbing and choking Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in the chapel of a local hospital, on the eve of Easter Sunday, 1980. "Ritual" is a term often used to describe the slaying, which left 31 stab wounds on the 71-year-old nun's partially undressed body. The most chilling evidence so far came Tuesday morning from Detective Terry Cousino of the Toledo Police Department's Scientific Investigation Unit. Using a mannequin on the courtroom floor to represent Pahl, he described how an altar cloth had been placed over her body before a blade was plunged into her heart nine times - defining the cross. He used the actual, bloody altar cloth for the demonstration, and described how it had been folded over, how tears in each half matched, and fit the tears in her clothing and flesh as well. The cloth was removed for the other 22 wounds about her chest, neck and head. Cousino said he looked for a crucifix to match the initial stab wounds because they were too perfectly aligned to have been done without a template. He also said three different blood stains matched the outline of a letter opener police took from Robinson's hospital quarters in 1980. Prosecutors believe the small, saber-shaped letter opener was the murder weapon. Testimony from a forensic anthropologist and a deputy Lucas County coroner also supported the letter-opener theory. Assistant County Prosecutor Dean Mandros said Friday that it fit a small wound in Pahl's jaw like a key in a lock. Cousino said the wound and the tip of the opener were "similar." Anthropologist Julie Saul said it was "consistent" with the jaw injury. Bolstering Mandros' assertion, she said that when she placed the opener in the actual wound, it fit "quite well," but turned 180 degrees, "it seemed to lock in place." Dr. Diane Barnett, the deputy coroner who performed a second autopsy on Pahl in 2004 called the opener and wound "a perfect fit." She also shook an assertion by defense attorney Alan Konop that the killer had big hands, too big for the slightly built Robinson. Barnett said hands were not used to choke Pahl nearly to death. "Something else was used," because of the range of injuries, which included two broken bones, the imprint of her necklace and bruises to the back of her neck, Barnett said. A coroner who performed the original 1980 autopsy said the killer choked her barehanded and had large hands. Of all the prosecution's evidence, the kind of scientific testimony offered today best represents the keystone and supporting arch of its case. The state has only hinted at a motive -- a falling out between the priest and nun -- and produced no eyewitnesses that can place Robinson at the scene. Defense attorneys have characterized the state's evidence as incomplete and contradictory and are expected to call their own experts. To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: jewinger@plaind.com, 216-999-3905
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