Ohio Innocence Project takes on Father Robinson's case

The Ohio Innocence Project has formally entered an appearance as co-counsel for Father Gerald Robinson. The appearance, filed on April 28, is expressly "For Issues Relating to DNA."

The Ohio Innocence Project, consisting of law faculty and students from the University of Cincinnati College of Law, includes  experts in DNA evidence -- specifically exculpatory DNA evidence in murder cases.

As one director of the program remarks, "We're not accepting these cases unless we really believe they [the defendants] are innocent."

And as the project's co-founder remarked, "“It’s our goal to never accept the word of a prosecutor, judge, or trial court."

I told them about the DNA evidence in Father Robinson's case a couple months ago. And they get it. They understand that when a male DNA profile is recovered from the bloody fingernail scrapings of a strangulation victim, that DNA evidence, if it doesn't match the man convicted of the crime, is in fact exculpatory.

A hearing is coming soon in his case. We can count on the prosecutor to oppose the Ohio Innocence Project's DNA testing requests. In a recent piece in the Toledo Blade, the prosecutor can be seen spluttering and saying nothing of the DNA evidence in the case except that he welcomes further review of the DNA and is confident that it does not exonerate Father Robinson.

We'll see about that.

Others are watching this case closely, including another who noticed that the Toledo Blade is quite partisan and does not tell both sides of the story. I'm not alone in thinking that numerous journalists and true crime authors have "a vested interest in Father Robinson never being found innocent."

What does it mean that the prosecutor "welcomes further review" of the DNA? Does this mean he will finally agree to run the DNA profile recovered from Sister Pahl's body and clothing through the FBI CODIS DNA database and compare it to Coral Watts and any other suspect in the murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl? And if he is going to stipulate to the testing, I wonder how long it will be before we may have an answer.

Comments

[Fiz]

Well done, Laura! Let's hope things come right for Father Robinson. I don't for a moment believe he should have been convicted, from what you have written about the case. Congratulations on the book. I can't afford to buy anything now my husband's lost his job, and it's half killing me.

[robo]

laura,
as a close friend of father robinson i have been following your every word on this case and really apppreciate your efforts. now i have a question for you, you mention that the dna from the finger nail clips is blood. is it a fact that it is blood? and why was this never mentioned by the prosecution?
please keep up your efforts. believe me, a lot of people are depending on you and grateful for your persistence.

tom robakowski

[laura]

Tom:

It is a fact she had blood in her fingernail clippings. It is not hers. It is not Father Robinson's.

The Court of Appeals opinion makes it crystal clear. On page 21 of the opinion, the Court of Appeals of Ohio wrote: "The [fingernail] clippings were swabbed and tested for the presence of blood and at least one of them tested positive. The blood was not appellant's [Father Robinson's]. A small amount of DNA was extracted from the clippings. As with the blood, the DNA was excluded as being appellant's."

Opinion:
http://apps.co.lucas.oh.us/Courts/Appeals/DecisionsPDF/3756.pdf

Why does the prosecutor refer to the source of the DNA as "cellular material" instead of blood? Good question.

[arthur walker]

food for thought,that Dna will belong to a 18 yr. old construction worker in the 1980 time frame.the key to his identity will be possible on the police interview list.
theres a probability that robinson knew him.or he even confessed to the priest.
if you can believe the smoke and mirrors prosecution.
the facts shouldn,t be all that hard to swallow.
i have found over the years it,s next to impossible to convince the convinced.
i,ve given you the key to the puzzle at least partially.now the question becomes do you believe there wasn,t enough evidence to convict or do you believe as i do he is incapable of this act.
i think it,s just a matter of time before some more pieces of the puzzle surface.
if i can find the right people and ask the right questions and they don,t look at me like i have a horn growing in the middle of my forehead,theres hope.