Keywords by David Yonke

The phone rang at 2 a.m. one night last week. That usually causes a sinking feeling, but with our 19-year-old daughter, Cara, studying in Australia , the 14-hour time difference sometimes makes a middle-of-the-night phone call a necessity. When I hear her voice on the other line, the initial trepidation gives way to joy.

It's hard having a daughter so far away, but I know she's in good hands there, studying at Hillsong International Leadership College. Janet and I went with her when she started there and were thoroughly impressed with the school, the staff, and of course the famous Hillsong Church. It's an exciting place to be and an awesome opportunity for Cara.

We talk often, but something sounded wrong the night of her 2 a.m. call. Something was bothering her, and once we got past the formalities, Cara told me what it was: "Dad, I almost drowned today."

Speaking softly, she explained that had gone with some friends to a quiet beach, away from the Sydney tourist crowd. A riptide suddenly dragged her out to sea, and at the same time seaweed entangled her feet, preventing her from kicking her legs. She was gulping water and struggling to stay afloat. She screamed for help a couple times but it happened so fast, her friends didn't realize what was going on.

Cara said she mustered all her strength and yelled one last time for her friend, Liz. It was all she had left in her.

"I thought I was going to home to glory. I thought I was going to see Jesus," she told me.

Her friend Liz heard her, and started to go into the water to help, but a man appeared out of nowhere. He told her to stay there, he knew what to do. The man, whom the girls described as about 60 years old, swam out to meet Cara, talked to her, calmed her down, and then helped her back to the beach.

When she caught her breath and regained her composure, she turned to thank the man. But he was gone. Nowhere to be seen on this deserted beach.

It is so hard to tell this story. As a parent, my heart ached for my precious daughter on the other side of the world. I wanted to hold her tight, squeeze her, and cry with her. All I could do was speak into this puny little device and tell her how much I love her and how God has great plans for her.

Feelings of joy and relief flooded my heart and mind and soul. So close to a tragedy. And yet, when she needed a miracle, when we needed God to intervene, he came through.

Was it an angel who rescued her? I don't know, it could be. But whether it was a man or an angel, this being showed up out of nowhere, saved my daughter's life, and disappeared.

Someday, somehow, I hope to thank him. For now, I can only thank God.
And Cara, bless her young and beautiful heart, she was on the verge of leaving this earth and what was going through her mind? I'm going home to glory. I'm going home to Jesus.

Such a child of God, she looked death in the eye and knew that Jesus would be there for her, one way or the other.

"Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." – Romans 6:9 (NKJ).

Cara will be home at the end of November for Christmas break. She'd better be ready for a lot of extra hugs this vacation.

Oct. 2, 2006. Sylvania, Ohio

That is the question, isn’t it? I have had many people ask me if I thought Father Gerald Robinson killed Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
Here’s what I think.
As a journalist, I have spent the last 30 years doing everything I can to report the facts in an objective, balanced, and fair manner. I took the same approach to writing “Sin, Shame & Secrets” as I have to writing articles for newspapers and magazines.
At an early point in the path toward writing this book, I was asked by a publisher if I felt confident Father Robinson was guilty and would be convicted. I told the editors that I had no idea. I ended up not signing a book deal with that company.
I am not a judge, not a jury, not an attorney. I am a reporter. I have no influence on the judicial process. I have no preconceptions about the priest’s guilt or innocence.
My only hope is that justice is served. Yes, it’s true, as far as writing a book is concerned, it would be “better” if Father Robinson were found guilty. But I am not that selfish. I would never wish for an innocent man to be found guilty just to boost book sales. No way. I only wished for justice.
I remember a class in a public policy science at Duke University when an attorney from Durham, N.C. spoke to our class. He sat on the teacher’s desk and opened with this statement: “I believe our justice system sucks. But I also believe it is the best justice system on earth. Until someone comes along with a better system, we should be grateful for what we’ve got.”
I’ve never had a reason to disbelieve that opinion. Sure, our justice system is flawed. But show me a better one, I dare you.
Father Robinson had four excellent defense attorneys. They hammered the points that could have raised reasonable doubt. But the prosecution proved to the jury that such doubts were, in fact, not reasonable. I went into the trial believing it would be tough to convict the priest due to the lack of DNA evidence, the passage of time – 26 years from the time of the murder to the time of the trial – and the fact that the evidence was all circumstantial. But after sitting through the trial, from gavel to gavel, I became convinced that the evidence pointed to the priest as the murderer. I learned that in the eyes of the law, circumstantial evidence is equal to direct evidence. Had I been on the jury, I would have been forced to cast a guilty verdict.
I was talking to a defense attorney recently and I asked if he thought Father Robinson was innocent or guilty. He explained that he does not look at a case that way. He does not decide whether to take a case based on such concepts. He looks at the evidence and the law, then decides what would be necessary to win an acquittal.
What kind of evidence does the prosecution have? What evidence or lack of evidence can the attorneys use to clear the defendant? It is all about the legal system and not about the individual’s guilt or innocence. That is the way the system works. An attorney is hired to do his or her job based on the law and legal procedure, not on whether he or she believes his client is guilty or innocent.
It is not a perfect system, but it is the best that we have.
I was persuaded that Father Robinson was guilty. So were 12 of the 12 jurors. Some people refuse to accept that verdict. Some people would not believe a priest could murder a nun unless they witnessed the bloody slaying themselves. And even then they might think they were hallucinating.
The next step in the legal process lies with the appeals court. Father Robinson is pursuing that course of action. Once again, my only concern is that justice is served.
I tried to interview Father Robinson, but was rebuffed. He may be the only one who really knows what happened in that hospital sacristy on Holy Saturday, 1980. If he will not talk, then our justice system must rely on whatever evidence is presented. For now, the frail, 68-year-old priest is in an Ohio state prison serving a 15-years-to-life sentence. I believe our legal system is working. I believe the evidence proved Father Robinson is guilty of murder.
Oct. 7, Sylvania, Ohio.

The book release date has finally arrived… Sort of. As a first-time author, I’ve been learning a lot about the book business through on-the-job training -- i.e., you learn as you go, and it’s not always fine and dandy.
Yes, my book is being published on Oct. 13 (Friday the 13th). But no, it won’t be available on that day. It will be rolling off the presses at the bindery and then shipped to stores and to people who have ordered it. I’m supposed to get a few copies, too. That would be nice.
But technically, Continuum has again pushed back the “official” release date to Nov. 1.
I believe the reason is to give it a cushion for delivery to retail outlets.
So it’s released, but it’s not released. At first, I was worried that I would not have copies for the six book signings I have scheduled. But I've been assured that’s not going to be a problem.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch…
I was interviewed by two local television news anchors – Jerry Anderson of WTOL-TV/Channel 11, the Toledo CBS affiliate, and Jim Blue of WNWO-TV/Channel 24, the local NBC station.
Both interviews went pretty well, I think… but you never know how the final edit is going to come out. Channel 24 aired the interview last night during the 11 p.m. news and again this morning, and Channel 11 will broadcast it as a “Jerry’s Journal” segment during the newscasts at 5 p.m. tomorrow and 8 a.m. Saturday (update: the Jerry's Journal has been delayed until next Friday, 10/20, because there's too much going on today, I've just been told).
The Jim Blue interview was straightforward, sitting in the studio, answering questions… some of them centered on the satanic aspects of the murder, which is sure to stir things up. The interview with Jerry was done in my home. We talked for an hour and they’ll use 2 minutes for the show. At the end of the interview, I played guitar. It was Jerry’s idea because I told him that when I was getting burned out writing I relaxed by playing some music. I hope that part comes out OK… I was nervous and didn’t really play that well. But I trust Jerry… The “Journal” segments are usually kind of lighthearted but that’s a tall order with this book about a ritual murder. We’ll see!
* * *
One more note: The Blade hired an outside reviewer, Javan Kienzle, to write about my book. She is an author and also the widow of William X. Kienzle, well known for his book “The Rosary Murders.” I have not read Mrs. Kienzle’s review, which will be published Sunday, but was told by an editor that she gave it a positive review overall. She said it was engrossing, but then she spent most of the review describing the murder case itself and not really critiquing the book. I’m happy with that, though. At least it was generally positive. I have a semi-thick skin from writing for a newspaper for so many years, but to be honest, waiting for reviews of my first book is an extremely nerve-wracking experience.
As I’ve said before, however: I will remain optimistic until proven otherwise. I’m glad the big day is here… sort of!
Oct. 13, 2006. Sylvania, Ohio.

Unrelated to my book:
Millard Fuller is coming to Toledo Oct. 19 and 20, and I interviewed him by phone yesterday. He is the founder of Habitat for Humanity, which has built 200,000 homes for low-income families around the world. Mr. Fuller, 71, was kicked out of Habitat last year after what appears to be baseless allegations from the executive board, when in actuality it was over a difference in philosophies over how to run the agency. That's all old news, basically, and not what I want to get into here. What I want to say is that I am amazed he is coming to Toledo to raise funds for the local chapter of Habitat, despite the way he was treated. He quoted an African saying: "When elephants fight, the grass gets trampled." He didn't want the local Habitat affiliates to suffer because of this controversy. What an exemplary attitude. We can all learn to be more forgiving and less self-centered.
Anyone whoh knows Fuller's amazing life story should not be surprised by the way he handled the situation.While attending the University of Alabama Law School, he and a friend started a direct-mail marketing company and Fuller became a millionaire by age 29. But he was miserable and suffered stress-related health problems. His wife left him. The two reconciled and agreed to sell everything they owned and serve in Christian ministry.
They joined a local northwest Georgia pastor, Clarence Jordan, in building a home for a poor Georgia family. But Rev. Jordan died of a massive heart attack, at age 57, and never saw the home completed. Mr. Fuller and his wife took up the cause, which eventually led to their founding of Habitat in 1976.
After being fired by his own board last year, he started a new nonprofit agency in June 2005 called the Fuller Center for Housing. The global need for suitable housing is so great, he said, that at the present rate of building homes for the poor, it would take 7,500 years to meet the current demand. So rather than "competing" with Habitat, the Fuller Center is joining in the effort, against all odds, to help poor families in the USA and around the world move into decent homes.
I didn't have room in The Blade to share this, but I asked Mr. Fuller for an anecdote about former President Jimmy Carter, one of the most visible supporters of Habitat. In 1984, Fuller and Carter took a bus trip with other volunteers to New York to renovate an apartment in the Lower East Side, near Hell's Kitchen. The pastor of Metro Baptist Church welcomed everyone and said their church is poor and the only accommodations they could arrange for the Habitat volunteers were bunk beds, with men on one floor and women on another. However, he told the crowd, they had one apartment, which they were calling the Presidential Suite, set aside for President and Rosalynn Carter. Jimmy got up and said thanks, but he and Rosalynn have been married for 40 years and love each other dearly but will be fine sleeping in bunk beds on separate floors. What you don't know, Mr. Pastor, is that there is a newlywed couple on this trip, Carter told him. Let them have the "Presidential Suite" apartment.
By the way, Mr. Fuller said Jimmy Carter is his Sunday School teacher, and he taught the class last week and the week before.

Oct. 13, 2006. Toledo, Ohio.

Gerald Robinson filed a motion in court yesterday asking to be released on bond. When I first heard this shocking news, I wrongly assumed he was ill and needed specialized care not available in prison.
Nope.
His reasoning, to summarize and paraphrase, is that the court made a mistake by convicting him of murder, so he should be let out of prison pending his appeal.
Unbelievable!
To be fair, he has nothing to lose by making such a request. But it would make a mockery of our justice system if the court freed him on such a pathetic argument. Oh, there are many other points he brings up, such as he is a retired Catholic priest, he has friends and family in Toledo, he weighs 130 pounds, has never had a mental illness, and "I have no criminal record." Except murder -- but I guess he's not counting that little detail.
This is also the first time that he publically and specifically denies that he murdered the nun, writing in paragraph 15: "I do solemnly swear, as I shall answer to God, that I did not kill Sister Margaret Ann Pahl."
One wonders why he didn't take the witness stand during his murder trial and make such a clear pronouncement.
I'm not a legal expert, but from what I can gather, the chances of Gerald Robinson being released on bond are about equal to the chances of the Detroit Tigers withdrawing from the World Series and asking the Tampa Bay Devil Rays to take their place.
As Claudia Vercellotti said when informed of the motion: "We might as well shut the courthouse down if they release him." And empty the prisons and jails, too. As we all have heard, 90 percent of prisoners were wrongly convicted -- according to them.
I am posting copies of Robinson's motion on my photo page, which, by the way, should be back up soon.
Bert Elliott is doing a tremendous job managing this web site -- he's been redesigning the photo pages from scratch. He's amazing. Here's a plug: If you would like your own custom-built, world-class website, contact Bert by email.
* * *
On a personal note: Today, Oct. 18, is my 26th wedding anniversary. Janet and I tied the knot at a little Catholic Church in Tampa, Florida, and moved to Toledo less than a year later. She was pregnant and we hauled all our belongings in a tiny little U-Haul trailer. Now that baby in her womb is a college graduate and engaged to be married. The world is a beautiful and awesome place. I am so grateful to God for all his blessings. He has brought us through so much. The good times are better with God in our lives and the bad times are lessened by his love and kindness.
"Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path." Psalm 119-105.

After all the hard work and the solitary challenge of writing a book, it was with some fear and trepidation that I scheduled my first book signings. Everyone knows what it's like to organize a party and then, just before it's time to start, feel a pang of doubt whether anybody will show up. And of course, they do, and the party gets rolling, and the anxiety evaporates and is quickly forgotten.
That's how it was with the first book signings. I worried needlessly. They went better than I could have hoped. I am so grateful to everyone who attended the events at Murphy's Place on Thursday, Borders on Saturday, and Fireside Books today (Sunday).
All three were great fun and I enjoyed getting to meet so many wonderful people. I especially am grateful to Beth Karas, one of my favorite people in the world. She has been such a help and encouragement right from the start, writing the foreword to "Sin, Shame & Secrets," going out of her way to get Nancy Grace to write an endorsement for the book cover, and then staying over an extra night in Toledo so that she could be at the book signing at Borders. She is a remarkable woman and, as her fans know, a savvy and smart reporter. She's also down to earth and a lot of fun to be around. I'm sure many of the 200 or so people who came to Borders were there to see Beth.

I don't have any numbers for you yet but I would guess I signed more than 200 books at the 3 signings, the majority of them at Borders.
Big kudos to Joan Russell and Clifford Murphy, owners of Murphy's Place, for hosting such a classy book-release party on Thursday. And thank you to Claude Black and Clifford for the incredible live jazz and to the staff at Murphy's for great food and service. I also would like to thank the Borders staff -- Chris, Tab, and Ashley are awesome, they took care of all the details and made sure everything went smoothly. Nicole at the main office did an exceptional job planning and advertising the event. And my newspaper, The Blade, has been so supportive, running promotional ads that listed the signings. Thanks to Dan Gallerno and the people in marketing.
The Fireside crew were a pleasure to work with also. I was thoroughly impressed with the store -- including the fireplace and cozy chairs -- and give credit to them for running the only independent bookstore in the Toledo area. Let's all do our part to support this local business.
Thanks also to Jon Stainbrook for taking photographs Saturday at Borders.
I feel extremely encouraged by the turnout and the comments and honored that you want to read my book. Several people who read it told me they could not put it down and read it straight through. I can't think of a greater compliment.
I'm looking forward to the next round, Saturday 10/28 at the Open Book in Fremont;Sunday, Oct. 29, at Calvary Assembly of God in Toledo, and then Nov. 4 at Barnes & Noble.
Hope to see you there!
Sylvania, Ohio, Oct. 22, 2006

As mentioned in this blog last week and as reported by Mark Reiter in The Blade, Gerald Robinson's attorney filed a motion asking that the priest be released on parole pending his appeal of the murder conviction.
Today, the state of Ohio responded with a motion to deny the request.
Dean Mandros, assistant Lucas County prosecutor, made a strong point right away, with his opening eight words: "Convicted murderer Gerald Robinson has filed a motion..." Not Father Robinson. Not just Gerald Robinson. It is "convicted murderer Gerald Robinson." And that description is an indisputable fact.
Mandros cites five legal factors to be weighed in determining whether a convicted criminal should be released pending an appeal, and then expounds on each of the five why Robinson should not set foot outside of the grounds of Hocking Correctional Institute in Nelsonville, Ohio.
Perhaps the most noteworthy point is the argument against the priest's sworn statement that he did not kill Sister Margaret Ann Pahl. It would have been more credible if Robinson had made that statement on the witness stand, where he would have had to undergo cross-examination. As presented in the affidavit, such a statement is meaningless, Mandros argues.
The motion to deny the release is a deftly crafted document that includes some strongly worded statements and some subtleties. For example, it states that Robinson "was only 42 years old when he engaged in a cold and calculated course of conduct wherein he strangled and butchered a 71-year-old Catholic nun ..." -- nothing subtle about that. It also states that "at the time she was murdered, Sister Pahl weighed 134 pounds, was five-feet-two-inches tall, wore glasses, and was hard of hearing." This appears to me to be a subtle reference to, and rebuttal of, Robinson's inclusion in his statement that he is 5'8, 130 pounds, which was completely irrelevant.
The State's motion cites the overwhelming evidence presented in court -- to the point where the jury deliberated just six hours before reaching a unanimous guilty verdict.
With judo-like wordplay, Mandros also turns Robinson's own statement against him: that his supporters are willing to raise money for his defense. "The State is very concerned that Defendant's supporters could either knowingly or unwittingly provide money to Defendant which would be used to facilitate his flight from this Court's jurisdiction," Mandros writes.
He also points out that, contrary to Robinson's motion, the State never presented a theory during the trial that Sister Margaret Ann was killed in a satanic ritual.
There is a lot more involved in this legal wrangling, but one of the interesting revelations is that cold-case investigators, in conducting at least three "garbage pulls" on Robinson's home searching for evidence, found "numerous liquor bottles" in his trash. Along with the murder conviction, it raises questions about the priest's character and mental condition, the motion states.
In sum: The State of Ohio's motion to deny Robinson's release is tactful, precise and persuasive. It is my own personal presumption, however -- not based on any interviews or inside information -- that prosecutors had a good deal of fun making their arguments, kind of like a cat toying with a mouse, because Robinson's arguments were so legally tenuous.
I get the impression that the motion is about as persuasive as if the priest had handed the judge a "Get Out of Jail Free" card from a Monopoly game and said, "Please?"
October 23, 2006, Toledo, Ohio

None of the 12 jurors or 4 alternates in the Robinson case ever talked to the media -- until now. Funny how things happen. I was doing a book signing at Fireside Books last Sunday and a woman walked in, and I recognized her face but couldn't place her. She was on the jury. Just then, another woman walks in. She was on the jury, too. They hadn't planned to both be there and in fact had not seen each other since the trial ended.
They both graciously agreed to speak with me this week for a story in The Blade. I don't want to say anything more at this point, not until the story runs on Sunday. But they both said I am the only reporter they will speak to. I'm honored that they trust me, but I also feel it's merited. I will be fair, I'm not going to twist their comments. I just want to get it right, and put it all in perspective. Once again, the main problem was that I had so much to say and only so much room in the newspaper. Still, I think the story came out great. Be sure to check it out, either buying a copy of The Blade or reading it online at www.toledoblade.com.
Once the article runs I will post more comments about it here, including things that didn't get in the paper.
My sister-in-law Bonnie called from Virginia to say she bought the book at the local Barnes & Noble. Relatives and friends around the country have been waiting for "Sin, Shame & Secrets" to arrive at their local book stores so it's finally happening. It feels like a "real book" now.
I went back to Fireside Books tonight. They got a new shipment of books in yesterday and I went there tonight to autograph them. I have a signing tomorrow in Fremont and Sunday at Calvary in Toledo. So far, everything's going well.
In the meantime, the Tigers are playing the Cards tonight in the World Series. I'm an Indians fan but have to root for the Tigers, the closest major league team to Toledo. I've been to so many Tiger games, and many of their players played on the Toledo Mud Hens on their way up, so I've seen them play ball here in my hometown. Although the Tigers been terrible for years, I remember the good times. In fact. I was at the 1984 World Series game in Tiger Stadium when they beat the Padres to win it all. (And I survived the riots afterward.) I do miss Tiger Stadium, one of the greatest classic parks. Comerica's OK but lacks the personality of the old ballpark at Michigan and Trumbull.
Sylvania, Ohio, October 27, 2006.

here's a link to the Blade article I wrote, published today (Oct. 29, 2006):

http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061029/NEWS02/61029011

The article is a good one, in my humble opinion, not necessarily because of my writing but because it was the first time that any of the jurors in the Robinson case spoke to the media. And even though it was rather lengthy by newspaper standards, there was a lot that I had to leave out.
First, it was amazing how both Beth Como and Cathy Shrader ended up at the same book signing event at the same time, yet had not seen each other or talked since the trial ended. Beth is a very straightforward and businesslike person, yet she laughed quite often and has a great sense of humor. Cathy is a little more reserved, a deep thinker but also quick with a smile. Actually, they both were a lot like you or me -- average citizens who took their job as jurors very seriously.
Here are a few things that I couldn't fit in the article:
1. Motive: Neither felt it was important to have a motive for the murder. Dean Mandros, assistant Lucas County prosecutor, offered one possible motive during the trial, saying he realizes that some jurors find it hard to put all the pieces together without having some motive in mind. But legally, it was not required. The motive Mandros offered was that Robinson was mad at Sister Margaret Ann Pahl, mad at the church, and mad at God. He had taken a lot but he could not take any more. And a man got angry at a woman and a woman died. In Como's and Shrader's view, they didn't put much weight on that theory and it did not affect their judgment or the verdict.
2. Why the cold-case squad reopened the 1980 case: It was interesting because Cathy had not read my book but Beth did. When we got to this subject, Cathy said she wondered and they never explained it in court, they just made reference to a letter. Beth told her she'll understand when she reads the book. For those of you who don't know the story, here's a Cliff Notes version: a Toledo nun had written a letter and testified to the diocese of Toledo in 2003 saying she had been abused by a satanic cult that included several priests. One of the priests she named was Robinson. When the letter was handed to the prosecutor's office, one veteran investigator recognized Robinson's name from the 1980 murder of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl and decided to take another look at the evidence. That led to Robinson's arrest in April, 2004.
3. DNA evidence: Neither juror felt that DNA was important in this case. The amount they had was so small, and degraded over time, and the crime scene had been contaminated by so many people, and police did not use or preserve DNA in 1980 when the murder occurred. But both Beth and Cathy were amazed at J. Christopher Anderson's understanding of DNA and forensics. "What a mind," Beth said a couple of times. Cathy said she assumed it must be his area of specialization, which it is.
4. "Reasonable Doubt": Asked if there was a moment when the defense team seemed to create anything close to reasonable doubt, which was its stated goal all along, both Beth and Cathy said John Thebes got them thinking when he said the image of the U.S. Capitol building found in blood on the altar cloth did not necessarily come from Robinson's letter opener, but could have been made by a nickel. The doubts were erased when assistant prosecutor Chris Anderson told the jurors not to accept any nickels from Mr. Thebes because the image on the back of a nickel is Jefferson's home at Monticello, not the Capitol. That remark drew laughs from the entire courtroom and, as Beth Como put it, "blew Thebes away."

Well I guess that's enough for now. I'll add more soon. I had two signings this weekend, one at the Open Book in Fremont and one in Toledo at Calvary AG, my home church. The Fremont one went very well, thanks to the superb effort of owner Barbara Jeane Fisher, an author as well as a book store owner. Today was fine at church, there were about 30 people there, although to be honest I was hoping for a few more. The point today was to share the excitement with my "brothers and sisters" and to explain to them why I wrote such a book.
On a side note, the Tigers lost pretty badly in the World Series... but overall they achieved far more than anyone had expected, including knocking out the mighty Yankees, so you have to be glad for that. Baseball used to be important to me but these days it's just a little diversion. I began losing interest years ago when I went to a car customizer in Tampa who told me that he had put 10 stereos in 10 cars for Dwight Gooden, each of the stereos costing $10,000. The money in pro sports these days is so out of control it has ruined the game, in my opinion. While I still go to ballgames and enjoy some of the action, my view of professional sports has been permanently diminished. I know it's pretty much the same for college sports but I enjoy them more. The Michigan Wolverines are looking fearsome and the Nov. 18 showdown with Ohio State is shaping up as one of the best ever -- let's hope both teams keep winning. I also can't wait to see Duke play some b-ball this year!

Oct. 29, 2006, Sylvania, Ohio

Yes, Father Robinson is in the November 06 issue of GQ, the men's fashion magazine, but not , I assure you, for his sartorial splendor.
Freelance writer Sean Flynn writes a fairly lengthy and graphic account of the cold-case investigation, cover-up, and trial, titled "The Case of the Killer Priest." The full-page color photo of Robinson is harrowing, with an incredibly evil look in his eyes, his mouth slightly open with a sinister smirk. His eyes are looking to the side, seemingly at the opposite page with the familiar B&W photo of a smiling Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
The article gives the Robinson case some more national attention, for which I am glad. Flynn, by the way, must get around: he also wrote the cover story for last Sunday's "Parade" magazine.
I got a call yesterday from a woman who read my book and said she is a cousin of Father Robinson. She said she took exception to something in the book: that his mother "bragged" about her son being a priest. Mary Sieja Robinson was very proud and grateful but was not a braggart, the priest's cousin said. I told her I didn't mean it in a negative way, and that her argument was more a matter of semantics. She then added that she "always thought he was weird" and that she also suspected him to be a "womanizer." He used to say things that made her uncomfortable, she said, and that even when he was an adult his mother used to slap his hand when he said things that were inappropriate.

One of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl's distant relatives came to a book signing and then emailed me a note and asked if I thought it was peculiar that Robinson filed his notice of appeal on June 6, 2006 .... a date that can also be written as 6/6/06.
Now isn't that interesting!
Toledo, Ohio, Oct. 31, 2006

Judge Thomas Osowik of Lucas County Common Pleas Court has denied a motion filed by Gerald Robinson's new attorney to let the priest out of prison on a $250,000 property bond pending his appeal. "The defendant has not presented any argument that would warrant any suspension of the sentence imposed," Judge Osowik wrote in a six-page decision. Did anyone really think the judge would let a convicted murderer loose until an appeals court gets around to hearing the case? It's not like Robinson was convicted of forging a check or jaywalking...
The attorney handling Robinson's appeal, John Donahue, also filed a memorandum adding to the motion, asking the court to consider my interview with two jurors published Sunday in The Blade. But the memorandum was filed after the judge had already issued his decision.
Donahue's next possible step is to ask the 6th district court of appeals to release the killer priest.
Stay tuned....

Tuesday, Oct. 31, 2006. Toledo, Ohio. Happy Halloween.