Thursday, May 11, 2006

The case will be appealed...

Linked article above, also worth pointing out as was earlier by one commenter who wrote as to what Father Robinson said that the Prosecution did not enhance, that he heard on Court Tv is written in this article:

Mr. Thebes said that what Robinson said was that Sister Margaret Ann knew the priest “didn’t do this. Sister won’t you please come through for me?”

The article contains alot more detail so perhaps this is far from being over.

And CNN takes the inaudible comments and gets them wrong.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

It was surely inappropriate to bring in all of the 'satanic' evidence without a solid link to Robinson. It is all prejudicial, not at all probative.

Unknown said...

I'm still having a hard time grasping how a letter such as the one that was written that thus far has not been proven to have any truth to it ended up re-opening this as a murder case in the first place.

Does this mean the way to get someone arrested for an unrelated murder is to accuse them of raping you and the various other things mentioned as well as helping your mother become a high priestess of Satan?

I realize that sounds a bit sarcastic but if they didn't have enough to try him before I don't see how magically that letter was the basis of anything.

Anonymous said...

I'm confused by various media reports of letters of allegations... there is the initial 2003 item detailed here:
http://www.crimelibrary.com/news/original/
0406/2701_rev_robinson_trial.html
Then Court TV refers to a 2003 letter from a nun (is this the same letter?) And then another allegation surfaces after Robinson is arrested?
Julia Bates interview at 13abc site is interesting background also.

Unknown said...

The letter was not from a nun, it was from an anonymous person and it was just the one letter. She stated the claimed abuse happened when she was a young woman and waited until then to come forward to ask the diocese to reimburse her counseling costs. No charges have been filed, there has been no word on what stage if any the investigation is at. All we do know is that Father Robinson was one of the names she mentioned as accusing of abusing her and he was not charged for this.

Various claims have been made part of which are on the crimelibrary site.

This will give you some background as well as might be the nun you heard mentioned.

Anonymous said...

Now all Toledo has to do is bring Chet Warren to trial for all of his abuses and bring the Oblates along with him.

If that were to happen I hope Lisa sets up a blog to follow him being brought to justice.

Anonymous said...

Lisa, it went like this (I think):

1. The Dicese gets a letter from a wman who says she was abused by priests as a child. Ritual abuse.

2. She wants her counseling costs covered.

3. The Diocese investigates, but the investigators are divided. One wants it turned over to authorities. The other doesn't.

4. Not sure how this happened, but somehow it gets into the prosecutor's hands.

5. Investigators recognize Robinson's name from the murder case. That prompts them to go look at the old evidence, which had never been compared side by side all these years; just sat in evidence storage.

6. A cop with an "artist's" eye sees what he thinks is the shape of the letter opener in the blood stains.

7. A blood stain transfer expert says, yeah, the stains could have been made by the letter opener. Can't rule it out.

8. The priest tells an investigator the letter opener was his, he didn't use it, it was a gift; nobody else used it.

9. Cops say if the letter opener is his, and it's the murder weapon, the priest is the killer. They arrest him.

10. Meanwhile, cops are unable to verify the info in the letter from the woman who said she was a victim of ritual abuse.

11. However, even without a criminal case in regard to the abuse claims, a civil suit is moving forward. I believe the case will be in court June 5th.

12. When interviewed about her charges/claims, the woman who wrote the letter told police to look for an inverted cross in the murder evidence. They looked, and decided they saw one. It's a stretch, but they're imaginative. (I don't think it has been explained why they discussed the murder case with her.)

13. It's confusing trying to follow the civil charges, but I think there are several women now claiming ritual abuse at the hands of priests -- not sure if Robinson is included in those charges. One of the women who went to the Dicese is supposedly a nun. Boggles the mind that a woman abused as a kid by priests would then want to be a nun, but whatever...

14. If we thought the murder case was a circus, just wait till the civil case gets going.

Jeffrey said...

I missed some details of this case, and can't seem to find them. Anyone know (1) What the exact charge/s were? ("Murder" in what degree? Sentenced 15 years for 1st degree doesn't seem right ...) & were the charges altered in the course of trial & deliberations? Of what specific crime was Fr Robinson finally convicted? (2) Of the sentence, one early report said if Fr Rob was convicted, there was a mandatory life sentence, and then I thought I read 21 years, and now it's 15?? Any help? You can e-mail me at jbabylon @ juno . com.