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TOLEDO, Ohio — Famed forensic scientist Henry Lee told jurors Thursday that a Catholic priest's letter opener was consistent with the weapon used to stab a nun murdered 26 years ago.
The celebrity criminalist, however, stopped well short of another prosecution expert who testified that the rare, dagger-like weapon or one exactly like it was used in the killing.
"All I can conclude is 'similar to,'" Lee said.
The prosecutors who called Lee are seeking a murder conviction against Rev. Gerald Robinson, 68, for the 1980 stabbing and strangulation of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in a hospital chapel.
Lee, nationally known for his work on the O.J. Simpson and JonBenet Ramsey cases as well as the television appearances that followed, compared a dime-size blood stain on an altar cloth found at the crime scene to a medallion on the opener the priest kept in his desk at the hospital.
"I cannot come here to tell you this pattern is produced exactly like this," Lee said holding the medallion out to jurors with one hand and gesturing toward a projection screen showing an enlargement of the stain.
"All I can say is 'similar to,'" he said.
The medallion, a souvenir from a trip to
"If another object made it, it would have to basically be the same shape, same size and same configuration," Sutton said. She and Lee are among five experts in the country certified in blood stain pattern analysis.
Lee used a chemical re-agent to bring out additional microscopic specks of blood in the cloth. In enlarged photographs projected onto a screen before jurors, the chemical appeared to have sharpened the contours of the stain, making clearer a circle ringing the stain that he said mirrored the border of the medallion. He also pointed out semicircles which he said tracked with the roof of the building.
 Defendant Gerald Robinson |
Because of his reputation, Lee was the most anticipated witness in the trial, now in its fourth day of testimony, but he spent only about an hour on the stand. He said he believed Sr. Margaret Ann was the victim of a "quick attack" and was likely strangled before she was stabbed.
"She was probably disabled or knocked down pretty quickly on the floor," he said. "Most of the stabbing was inflicted afterwards."
Jurors watched intently as Lee pulled an oversize magnifying glass from his briefcase and inspected police photos.
"You never know when you're going to be called to a crime scene and you can't carry a microscope with you," he joked to the jurors, who chuckled.
A lawyer for Robinson spent less than five minutes cross-examining Lee, including offering him a hearty welcome to northwestern
"It's a lovely area. I like
Earlier Thursday, jurors heard from a retired nursing supervisor who worked at the hospital where the murder occurred. Rose Byers, taking the stand on her 82nd birthday, said it was her practice in her 18 years at the hospital to go to pray in the chapel every morning after finishing her overnight shift. On the morning of the murder, Holy Saturday, she found the chapel unexpectedly locked.
"That was the first morning that I could not get in," she said, adding that she thought that perhaps the chapel was closed because it was Easter weekend.
She said that she was stunned when she learned several hours later that Sr. Margaret Ann was killed in the chapel about the time she was trying to get in.
Also Thursday, jurors heard more forensic testimony about unexplained DNA on the nun's body. The source of male genetic material under the victim's nails and on her underpants is emerging as a key area of contention at the trial.
Robinson was cleared as a source of the DNA by the state crime lab and his lawyers have suggested the presence of another man's DNA at the scene is proof someone else killed Sr. Margaret Ann.
On Thursday, prosecutors suggested in questions to a DNA analyst and a police officer that the source was medical personnel who rushed to help the victim or officers present at the autopsy. In 1980, prior to the advent of DNA evidence and other advanced forensic techniques, investigators did not take as many precautions against contamination.
Former officer Ed Marok, who collected evidence at the crime scene and was present when the victim's nails were clipped, said he did not sterilize the nail clippers between use and was not wearing a surgical mask as he bent over the nun's body.
"Do you know whether you sneezed," prosecutor Larry Kiroff asked.
"I don't recall," Marok replied.
Under questioning by another prosecutor, a private DNA analyst, Megan Shaffer of Reliagene Labs, acknowledged that a sneeze, a cough or even a handshake could lodge DNA under one's nails.
On cross-examination, defense lawyer John Thebes asked, "Could the blood on her fingernails come from grabbing an assailant as she was being choked to death?"
"Yes," Shaffer said.
Testimony continues Friday morning.
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