By John Seewer
The Associated Press, carried in Washington Post
May 8, 2006
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/05/08/AR2006050801346.html
Toledo, Ohio -- A best-selling mystery author testified Monday that investigators may have compromised evidence while examining a puncture wound in the jawbone of a nun killed 26 years ago.
Prosecutors claim the Rev. Gerald Robinson used a letter opener to kill the nun, and an assistant coroner testified earlier that the opener was a "perfect fit" when inserted into the jawbone.
Kathleen Reichs, who is also a forensic anthropologist, said inserting the opener could have damaged the bone.
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| Forensic anthropologist Kathleen Reichs testifies during the murder trial of the Rev. Gerald Robinson Monday, May 8, 2006, in Toledo, Ohio. Robinson, a Roman Catholic priest, is accused of killing a nun in a hospital chapel over Easter weekend in 1980. (AP Photo/Andy Morrison, Pool) (Andy Morrison - AP) |
"It just makes common sense not to do that," said Reichs, who helped inspire story lines on the television show "Bones," about a real-life forensic detective.
The defense rested its case after Reichs testified. Closing arguments were set for Wednesday.
Robinson, 68, was the hospital chaplain when Sister Margaret Ann Pahl was found stabbed to death on the day before Easter, 1980. She was found in the chapel where both worked, but authorities have not disclosed a motive in her killing.
Reichs compared before and after photographs of a puncture wound in Sister Pahl's jawbone and said the edges of the bone looked different. The nun's body was exhumed in 2004.
Under cross-examination, Reichs said she did not examine the bone herself and can't say with certainty that the test affected it. "We'll never know if it was modified or not," Reichs said.
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