CLEWS Your Home for Historic True Crime

Notes From the Inbox

It has been observed, with some truth, that everyone loves a good murder. The class of persons to whom the very word does not give a certain not unpleasing thrill is so small that it may be ruled out for the purposes of discussion, and the rest of the world may be divided into two classes -- that in which people frankly admit a vivid interest in murder as the most curious of the phenomena of human nature, and that in which are those who, while secretly thrilled, disclaim any such interest and condemn it as "morbid." To the true student of the ways of humanity nothing is morbid, as long as due balance and proportion be kept in the sudying of it, and anyone who eliminates as an object of interest the most strange of all the phenomena of social life, is ruling out his chance of developing a comprehensive view of that life.

--F. Tennyson Jesse, the English queen of early 20th century true crime, in Murder and Its Motives, 1924

A Woman Scorned -- and Now In Print

Besides Jack, there's one other infamous Ripper that still captivates imaginations. He's the Yorkshire Ripper, Peter Sutcliffe. There's a new book in the works about him. It's Sandra Lester's The Ripper Unmasked: Confessions from Sutcliffe to a Hypnotist. The letters here include his "pen-affair" with the attractive author, who was "badly hurt" by the curious relationship when she learned that he had a harem of women. Having emerged from her self-hypnosis, she's campaigning to restrict men like Sutcliffe from victimizing women from prison. For details, you can email her at sndr_lester AT yahoo.co.uk or check out this website.

Skirting the Scaffold

Cheating the hangman hasn't gone out of fashion. The punishments for drug trafficking in Asia are strict, and yet some Australians have dared the rope for profit and pleasure, and it's amazing that anyone lives to tell the tale -- or will admit to it. One of them, Wade Agnew, recently released an autobiography with the intriguing title Cheating the Hangman: True Confessions of a Heroin Trafficker.

Umm... a bit too much, even for me

The Nashville Knife Shop, which offers self-evident retail services, recently offered me a sum of money to place an ad on one of my true crime stories about a woman who slashed another woman to death with a straight razor. I have to turn it down; the juxtaposition is just a wee bit... well....

For the Free Father Robinson Club

Word on the street is that some organizations dedicated to freeing innocent men might be taking a look at Father Robinson's case.

Meanwhile, his case is about to go before the Ohio Court of Appeals, District 6. This court is located in Toledo -- so undoubtedly the judges already know something about the case from the media. Three of the district's five appellate judges are former prosecutors; only three will be assigned to hear his appeal. From the looks of it, the oral arguments have not yet been scheduled.

It was a "one-man crusade" by a retired detective in Toledo that was, in part, to blame for the eventual (and in my opinion wrongful) conviction of Father Robinson. Harry Smith of the Early Show interviewed that detective, Dave Davison, and the video from that appearance can be found here (look on the right side of the page for "Cop On Nun Murder Case"). (Harry Smith is very sharp and one of the nicest people I have ever met. He interviewed me on the show in 1989. But that's a story for another day.)

The Wikipedia entry on the case was full of factual errors, which I've taken the liberty of correcting, trying very hard not to introduce my own opinions but to accurately and fairly summarize the case. We'll see how long that lasts.

Court TV was strongly in favor of the prosecution "satanic abuse" theory while it was covering this trial. Indeed, while the trial was underway, Court TV brought in an "expert" who believes that satanic abuse exists and is characterized by "(1) sadistic sexual abuse by multiple perpetrators, (2) international organizations of pedophiles/ pornographers/traffickers, (3) desecration of religious institutions, (4) electroshock, (5) mind control, (6) bestiality, (7) sensory deprivation, (8) forced drugging, (9) human and animal mutilations/sacrifices . . . even cannibalism."

Ritual cannibalism? Organized human sacrifice? In America? In the late 20th, 21st century? Hm. You'd think that a journalist would be skeptical. Yet this "expert" was given what she herself calls the "unique opportunity to speak on live TV about the reality of ritual abuse without being discredited, demeaned, or disbelieved by Court TV anchors Lisa Bloom and Vinnie Politan" (emphasis added). From what I could determine, it was her first and only mainstream media interview.

The transcript of the Court TV interview of "our ritual expert" (Vinnie Politan) affirms that Court TV made no attempt to look at the issue objectively. Some of the comments included these:

Lisa Bloom: "Frankly, I never knew what to believe. What I did know was these cases would be very, very hard to prove because people just don’t want to believe it."

Me again: Ms. Bloom, maybe they don't want to believe it because there's no objective evidence to support it.

Vinnie Politan: "Either someone’s trying to make it look like a ritualistic killing or [it] actually was."

Expert: "And of course it could be a coincidence that Sister Margaret, - this woman who was married to Christ was . . . brutally murdered on this, I think what is – Called a Holy Saturday –"

Vinnie Politan: "That, that would be a – HUGE coincidence."

Me again: Come on, Mr. Politan. How many holy days are there in the Catholic calendar?

What's next on "Court" TV -- a show about astrologers and psychics solving crimes with ESP? Oh yeah.... that show started a few months ago. Maybe that "mainstream" in "mainstream media" needs qualification.

A little side-by-side

I. Can't. Stop. Myself.

JonBenet: Foreign male DNA found in blood under fingernails does not match suspect

Sister Pahl: Foreign male DNA found in blood under fingernails does not match suspect

JonBenet: Foreign male DNA found on underwear does not match suspect

Sister Pahl: Foreign male DNA found on underwear does not match suspect

JonBenet: Leading investigator argues that DNA must have come from "contamination"

Sister Pahl: Leading investigator argues that DNA must have come from "contamination"

JonBenet: No other objective evidence linking suspect to crime

Sister Pahl: No other objective evidence linking suspect to crime

JonBenet: John Mark Carr's arrest warrant quashed

Sister Pahl: Father Gerald Robinson convicted and imprisoned for life

Anyway.... have a nice Labor Day, America! I'll be back Tuesday.

A few questions for Nancy Grace

I take no delight in pointing out the affectedness of CNN / Court TV's Nancy Grace. When news broke Monday that John Mark Carr's DNA did not match foreign DNA found on the clothing of JonBenet Ramsey, she asserted that we are "back at square one."

Well, okay. There's universal agreement among reasonable persons that if the DNA on the victim's underwear doesn't match the suspect's DNA, then he didn't do it.

But where was this logic when Father Gerald Robinson was on trial for murder in Toledo earlier this year? DNA found on the victim's underwear did not match the suspect, and yet he was convicted on circumstantial and subjective evidence.

So why did Nancy Grace embrace the guilty verdict for Father Robinson?

And if DNA is so reliable -- scientific, testable, objective -- that it excludes Carr -- then why doesn't it simultaneously exclude the Ramsey family?

Unfortunately, Nancy Grace, insinuating that Patsy Ramsey killed her daughter, also repeated on Monday an assertion made by Mark Klass a few days before -- namely that sex killers never leave ransom notes. This, as I've pointed out before, is factually incorrect and reveals that Nancy Grace and her guests are not as learned in true crime as they want us to believe, assert guesswork as fact, fail to prepare with research, are not trustworthy sources, and mislead the audience.

A recent guest on Court TV -- I did not catch his name -- labeled our crime media "a conviction industrial complex." It was a gutsy thing for the fellow to assert in that forum and a point worth pondering. Not that it will sate the media's lust for convictions, evidence be damned. I anticipate a backlash from the bench: if Court TV does not alter the nature of some of its coverage, then more courthouse doors may be closed to the cameras of the "conviction industrial complex."

For more:

Nancy Grace's latest ethics violation

Court TV's ethics challenge

Solving old crimes (or not)

On the trail of some rough riders

It's always possible to shed light on some very old crimes -- even those more than a century old. Some sixth-grade students (!) opened their own inquiry into the death of a barkeep in 1902 in a rowdy night at the saloon and point their little fingers at the U.S. Army Third Cavalry.

Riding The Klan, again

Florida Identifies Suspects in 1951 Murder of Civil Rights Activists - Fifty-five years after the murder of two civil rights activists in the southern state of Florida, the state attorney general has identified four men as suspects. The murder of Harry Moore and his wife Harriette occurred during a time of bitter racial divisions in the United States. The couple died in a bombing of their Florida home on Christmas Day in 1951....

Cornwell's art

I don't care what the Ripperologists say, I liked Patricia Cornwell's book on the Ripper case. She fingered artist Walter Sickert in her book and did an admirable job of proving he was a sick man. But the Ripper? Anyway, come to find out she spent Three million pounds on Sickert art trying to match DNA from a Ripper stamp to the DNA of the artist. This is such a breathtaking example of a researcher obsessed beyond description with solving an old crime case that I can hardly believe it and yet I love it. Imagine being so swept up by your research passions that you let passion take hold of your hand and guide you to sign your name on a series of very large checks. She's an inspiration. News came this week that Cornwell donated her collection of Sickert art to Harvard University, saying, “I wanted it to be a gallery where scientific examination of the Sickerts can continue.” Well, that's not likely pending some sort of scientific breakthrough, but she had to do something with it, and here's hoping it's tax-deductible.

Mr. Klass is wrong

Do sex killers leave ransom notes?

Mark Klass, who lost his daughter Polly to a monster, has been appearing on television a lot lately, as he has always made it plain that he suspects the Ramseys had something to do with the murder of JonBenet. On a Court TV program on Tuesday afternoon, he said a principal reason for his steadfast finger-pointing is because of the ransom note. He made the assertion that sex killers don't leave ransom notes.

He actually declared in no uncertain terms that this has never, ever happened in the history of crime, and that the presence of the ransom note means it could not have been a sex murder.

Unfortunately, the remark went unchallenged. Any time you hear someone say "this has never happened before in the history of crime," what follows, ninety-eight times out of a hundred, is bunk.

Consider:

--A killer left a ransom note when he took Suzanne Degnan, 6, from her home in the middle of the night on January 6, 1946. Her dismembered body was found the next day. A child molester named Richard Thomas confessed to the murder, though notorious killer William Heirens also confessed to the killing. In either event, it was clearly a sex murder and not a kidnapping, regardless of the note. See the Court TV Crime Library -- which Court TV anchors and guests should consider reading.

--Marian Parker, 12, was snatched in 1927 by someone who sent ransom notes to the family. But kidnapping wasn't the motive; the "kidnapper" collected a ransom and delivered the girl back to her family -- she had been killed and her body desecrated in a classic case of Lustmord or lust murder. See an excellent summary by Mark Gribben.

-- Clark Handa, age 3, was kidnapped from his own home in 1984. A ransom note was left behind. Clark has never been found, and no one ever tried to collect any ransom for his return. cite

For the Free Father Robinson Club

The Toledo Blade reporter who covered the Robinson trial is writing a book. The title of the book is going to be Sin, Shame, and Secrets: Murder and Cover-up in the Catholic Church.

In other words, we should not actually expect the book to explain how the victim got some other man's blood underneath her fingernails and on her underwear. But there's another book in the works, so I hold out hope. How's this for a title: Speculation, Supposition, and Superstition: Why Science Couldn't Save Father Robinson.

You know what the prosecution's answer to this DNA evidence was? They said the amount was miniscule. As if the amount is relevant -- the point is a man's blood did not spontaneously generate underneath the murder victim's fingernails and on her underwear. And if they want to continue to argue that the blood must have come from some accidental source after the fact, I say prove it. Because common sense is evidence, too.

Toledo was awash in pre-trial publicity before Father Gerald Robinson was convicted of murdering a nun. It's worth harking back to the words of one of the men who brought us State v. Robinson -- the detective whose "one-man crusade" was said to have brought about murder charges. In an article published before the trial in the Toledo Free Press, the retired detective accused police officials of covering up for the Church in not bringing charges earlier. Consider his remarks:

Nobody wants to hear about this case because it is so ugly — it involves a priest killing an old woman. Even the media wants this hushed up.... The department always had ‘go-to' guys who would take care of embarrassing problems for the Church. The only reason this case finally got properly investigated was that a new generation of ‘young Turks' came along and looked into it after I kept bugging them.... there are a lot of people in the police department who give me the cold shoulder now.

Hmm wonder why.

The coverage of the Robinson case from Court TV, which was extraordinarily favorable to the prosecution (devoting seven separate articles to the prosecution's case; the defense got two. Hm), is being used by BishopAccountability.org which is in the business of "Documenting the Abuse Crisis in the Roman Catholic Church." The Court TV article being reproduced on the BishopAccountability website is headlined Woman Credited for Events Leading to Gerald Robinson Trial.

Credited. Huh. If you read this article, you might be led to think this woman was simply a brave abuse survivor.

"For years, she had kept her allegations largely a secret, but the haunting after effects, she claimed, had driven her to seek intensive, and expensive therapy. At last, she brought her story of abuse she endured years earlier to the Diocese ...."

Nowhere in the article does Court TV actually acknowledge just how grotesquely bizarre the woman's accusations are -- or the status of her civil suit seeking money from the Diocese, for that matter. Per the Toledo Blade, she accused priests of committing murders of infants. She accused priests of performing an abortion on her. She accused priests of performing Satanic orgies, forcing children to have sex with one another. She accused priests of performing rituals in which they penetrated her with a snake. No journalist can purport to cover the accusations of this woman, no journalist can credit her for anything, without specifying her most outlandish accusations.

That's enough of that for one day. I'm going to go kick the cat.

On Hiatus, Links, and a Poem

I'll be beachcombing on Lake Huron for a while and won't be back to Clews until the middle of August or so. My email will probably be bouncing by then. When I'm back, I'll have some more interviews with true crime authors and more eye-popping murder cases from times past.

Keep it between the ditches!

Laura

For the Free Father Robinson Club

Noted true crime author Fred Rosen made my day today! He left a note on Clews saying he is writing a book for HarperCollins about the murder conviction of Father Gerald Robinson.

Hallelujah! Someone who knows what he's talking about will examine the case that's kept me up at night.

And from a kind Clews visitor, some interesting links --

Priest's abuse accuser says limitations law doesn't apply -- Toledo Blade

Priest has attorney for appeal -- Toledo Blade

For the Deadwood fans in the house

Sheesh, mention Deadwood on your blog and the stampede ensues! For you folks I found a fascinating and authoritative History of the Homestake Gold Mine, that piece of turf exploited by George Hearst on our most very favorite TV show. This essay, complete with photos, was prepared by the current owners of the mine, The Deep Underground Science and Engineering Laboratory, or DUSEL (an outfit whose home page makes deep mining look downright pretty.)

For the True Crime Nuts

I've added a new list at the bottom of the left-hand column. It's a blogroll of published true crime author websites. Some of them offer fascinating content and are worth exploring. If I've forgotten your favorite crime writers, kindly leave their URLs in a comment to this post.

A Poem

I like this shivery poem about a forgotten, nameless victim.

She turned, and looking on the bitter view

Her eyes were welded shut by mortal pain.

Into transparent salt her body grew,

And her quick feet were rooted in the plain.

Who would waste tears upon her? Is she not

The least of our losses, this unhappy wife?

Yet in my heart she shall not be forgot

Who, for a single glance, gave up her life.

--Anna Akhmatova, “Lot’s Wife” (Richard Wilbur's translation)

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/2464/poemanna.html

Fiddle Music, or Father Robinson, part six

Maybe there are, very occasionally, some new things under the sun, but a wise man once cautioned us against such conclusions.

I hate to risk being labeled a one-note fiddle, but... I've been bothered by the conviction of Father Robinson for the murder of Sister Margaret Pahl for a while now, and I finally put my finger on why. (Besides the fact that another man's blood was found under her fingernails.) I also doubt because the case is inconsistent with known patterns of offender behavior.

I wish that someone from the discipline of behavioral profiling would have testified at the trial of State of Ohio v. Gerald Robinson. It might have helped the jury tremendously, and I think it would have surprised some people.

Since none of the behavioral profilers did testify, the next best thing is to read their works with an eye out for anecdotes of interest. So I reread The Evil that Men Do: FBI Profiler Roy Hazelwood's Journey Into the Minds of Sexual Predators, which he co-wrote with true crime writer Stephen G. Michaud.

And based on that authority, I think it would have been of interest to the Robinson jury to know:

1. Serial rapists have been known to hunt for victims in hospitals. A rapist with an IQ of 79 once told Roy Hazelwood about the best places to search for a rape victim in a hospital.

2. Murderers have been known to stage satanic and ritualistic murder scenes. One example: James Ray Slaughter of Oklahoma City, who mutilated his mistress and daughter. Another example: the Manson family murders. Crude, but satanic. And so on.

The Robinson trial included the suggestive testimony that the killer engaged in "ritualistic" behavior after the murder.

The prosecution said this evidence pointed to Father Robinson, the priest. But this sort of evidence can also point elsewhere. A profiler could have told them that, and such evidence would have been an interesting counterpoint to the testimony supporting the "ritualistic" aspects of the theory against Father Robinson. Some believe that the ritualistic elements of the murder of Sister Pahl had special significance. But as a profiler could advise, many murders committed by sexual sadists have these elements.

Meanwhile, on the Shadowraiths blog is an absorbing history of satanic ritual abuse claims. It's an interesting recap of such claims over the last few decades.

I've seen reports that two networks are preparing documentaries about the murder trial of Father Robinson, but from the sounds of it, both programs will focus on the "police procedural" / "cold case" aspect of the story and not the ludicrous satanic human sacrifice stories (which never had a shred of objective proof) nor on the questionable evidence that put a priest behind bars for murdering a nun, which has never, ever, happened before; and what was that wisdom from Proverbs again?

please excuse another rant… Father Robinson's case

I don’t think Father Gerald Robinson murdered Sister Margaret Pahl of Toledo in 1980. As a trial lawyer, as a crime historian, as someone who followed the case closely in the papers and when it was broadcast on television two months ago, I was amazed that the jury found him guilty of her murder, and I think he has been in prison long enough.

I’ve been patiently waiting for the prime-time expose about one of the worst travesties of justice I’ve even heard of – and I am read up on the subject, thank you. And yet the mainstream media continues to piss me off. Journalists of America, where are your pens?

The nun was clearly the victim of a violent sexual predator, whether there was penetration or not; a psychosexual illness that drove him to hate and to kill women and to enjoy doing it. She clearly appears to have been choked and stabbed 31 times in a classic example of “overkill.” The way the body was posed and exposed is not uncommon among violent sexual murders. Any true crime reader can tell you that.

And yet the prosecutors in Toledo built up a case against a priest on a bullshit theory worthy of The National Enquirer that the nun was “ritually” murdered and “ritually” posed, and it was “ritually” done on a high holy day, and the smear of blood on her face wasn’t left by the killer when he posed her or by the many people who found her body or by the EMTs or police, it was on her forehead, ooh that has religious significance, so since her murderer committed Catholic “rituals” – well – why, it must be a priest, right?

That was enough to convict Father Robinson. That and some contradictory expert testimony about transfer stains that was riddled with reasonable doubt.

But the case was even thinner than that, because a huge amount of forensic evidence was available - DNA found on the body – including male DNA from tissue found under the victim’s fingernail that did not match the priest.

If Father Robinson had been convicted of the murder back in 1980 when it took place, and then the DNA tests were performed, he would have been released from prison and everyone would have said the DNA results exonerated him.

Instead, the prosecution waved away the importance of the forensic evidence – and the jury bought it.

This case is like CSI in reverse –the jury discounted the forensic evidence that clearly indicated that Father Robinson was not the perpetrator.

Based on what I saw, it appeared to me that the defense attorneys went into court assuming that they'd win. They were slack-jawed, ashen even, right after the conviction. (So was I.)

Where is Mike Wallace when you need him?

Alright, a little bit of work will be involved. You’d have to read the trial transcript. Read the appellate briefs. Closely examine the photos admitted into evidence. Check out the “satanic ritual abuse” allegations that were the elephant in the room at trial. Interview all the lawyers and those witnesses you can. Jurors, perhaps, if any of them are racked by guilt as they should be. And while you’re at it, ask them if they watched Court TV’s coverage, which was extremely favorable to the prosecution, while the trial was underway.

Yeah, that’s a long list, but that is your job, you members of the Fourth Estate, you are our check on the judiciary branch. Or is that an old-fashioned sentiment these days?

Is there a Julian Ralph in the house?

If you happen to hear or see any updates or articles about the case, or know of anyone who intends to write or produce some broadcast about it, kindly drop me a line. My husband will thank you.

***

Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction

Offender Detail Information

GERALD ROBINSON

Number: A519811

DOB: 04/14/1938

Gender: Male

Race: White

Admission Date: 05/18/2006

Institution: Warren Correctional Institution

Status: INCARCERATED

 

Stunned and Saddened... the Conviction of Father Robinson

Travesty (noun) -- To make a travesty of; parody or ridicule ; a debased or grotesque likeness: a travesty of justice.

I cannot describe my shock and disappointment at the conviction and immediate imprisonment for life of Father Gerald Robinson for the murder of Sister Margaret Pahl. Not only did I, as an experienced trial lawyer and unbiased observer (I'm not even Catholic; I have no dog in this fight), believe the case very, very thin, but I concluded the evidence actually pointed quite convincingly to the man's actual innocence.

Consider the fact that there was no direct evidence of the man's guilt (i.e., no eyewitnesses). There was no obvious motive. Consider the forensic case and the points raised by the defense:

Pubic Hair

• A blond pubic hair was found at the scene (on the door). It does not match Father Robinson.

The Murder Weapon

• Sister Pahl worked with scissors in the location of her murder (trimming candle wicks, for example), and the scissors were not found. The original coroner opined that the wounds were made by scissors.
• Opinion evidence on the blood transfer stains on the altar cloth was subjective and inconsistent. Some experts said the patterns left in blood on the cloth were consistent with Father Robinson’s sword-shaped letter opener; another said they were consistent with a pair of scissors; one said both.
• The sister’s wounds were 3” deep or less, per the coroner’s report; the priest's letter-opener had a 8 ½” blade.
• The letter-opener was dull, or at least not sharp enough to cut your hands while handling it.

DNA

• Blood found under one of the victim’s fingernails did not match Father Robinson, though it was male (having a Y chromosome).
• The altar cloth and the victim’s underwear also had male DNA on it, and these samples also did not match Father Robinson.

If this isn't ample cause for reasonable doubt, then I can't imagine what would be.... 

The jurors were afforded an opportunity to speak out. Tellingly, they have chosen not to.

Even the generally pro-prosecution anchors on Court TV are expressing shock. "I'm very, very surprised by the verdict," said anchor Jami Floyd. An observer described gasps from courtroom observers, including members of the media, at the pronouncement of guilt.

I'm too flabbergasted to go on.

Crossing Fingers for Father Robinson

There is now an irrefutible sign that Father Gerald Robinson, the Toledo priest on trial for the "ritualistic" murder of an elderly nun, will soon be restored to his ministry.

The cable news shows, it seems, are having trouble booking guests to comment on his trial.

I went net-surfing to see what the bloggers are saying about Father Robinson's trial, and I found plenty of news stories but surprisingly little opinion. A lot of bloggers haven't had the time to comment on it, even when CNN and Nancy Grace are calling.

The Court TV Message Boards have a lively debate, but I won't even waste time with a link because these kinds of anonymous forums go stale faster than a box of donuts on the dashboard. Some of the comments are so outlandish I have to remind myself that anyone over four years old can use a computer.

Some obviously uneducated people who are righteously angry about the sex abuse scandals in the Church go on and make comments like, "For centuries these men have been immune from any kind of justice from civil courts." That made me laugh. I know my history of murder cases against priests. Catholic ministers have typically not fared well in courts of law. To throw out an example: the case of Father Leotade. Lord, please let us not enter a new era of unfounded prosecutions against men of the church....

But there are some people with sense. I dipped back into the Google fountain to see other editorials. On a blog called Progressive Christians I found an interesting note, from which I excerpt:

I pray that if Father Gerald Robinson did commit this crime that he will be found guilty and brought to justice. But on the other hand, if he had nothing to do it, I pray that he is acquitted and that his ministry can continue. Far too often we assume that a person is guilty just because they’ve been arrested or just because they’ve been through a trial. We never consider the consequences of what that person has been through on their lives, on their ministries, and on the people around them.

And a crisp and pointed analysis was posted on a legal blog, Defensology, which calls the case "flimsy" and points out one of the absurdities in the prosecutor's swiss cheese of a theory:

...prosecutors are now arguing that the male DNA sample found on Sister Pahl’s underwear was small, and could have come from one of the investigators or someone else on the scene.... if they could find small samples of an investigator’s DNA on the nun 26 years later, why are they not able to find ANY belonging to the man they claim brutally stabbed her repeatedly?

This case illustrates how creative prosecutors can use DNA evidence both offensively and defensively in their trials. It doesn’t matter what DNA tests show, all findings support guilt. If you can show some of the defendant’s DNA at the scene, you argue he’s guilty and the DNA proves it. If you find no DNA match, you argue that he’s guilty but that he didn’t leave any DNA behind. And if you find someone *else*’s DNA, you simply argue that it could have been the result of contamination during the investigation, but he’s still guilty.

Aah, now there's an interesting thought...

Well, that's given me enough to chew on this afternoon while I pull weeds and pamper babies. And slip in a few prayers for a man on trial who is innocent. (Or at least not guilty, for the benefit of those who appreciate the distinction.)

More on the Scapegoating of Father Robinson

The very cold murder case involving Father Gerald Robison was dusted off two years ago because a woman accused several men of the cloth, including Father Robinson, of sexually abusing her.

In 2004, the Toledo Blade reported the following:

The woman, now in her 40s, alleged that the clerics

killed an infant and a 3-year-old child, performed an

abortion on her and mutilated dogs, according to a

copy of her statement obtained by The Blade. She

described satanic ceremonies in which priests placed

her in a coffin filled with cockroaches, forced her to

ingest what she believed to be a human eyeball, and

abused her with a snake.

Were they Satanic and sadomasochistic rituals, inside the Church, the abhorrent violations of a six-year-old girl?

Or the “recovered” memories of someone with a juvenile imagination?

The Diocese found her claims to be “non-credible.” The jury in the murder trial will probably know nothing of what reinvigorated the investigation into the murder of Sister Pahl. More’s the pity for the man on trial.