Two workers testify that they saw priest

A third worker said he saw someone but wasn't sure if it was the accused priest.
TOLEDO (AP) -- Three employees at a hospital where a nun was stabbed to death a day before Easter in 1980 say they saw a priest charged with killing her just outside the building's chapel within an hour before her body was found inside.
One of the witnesses testified Thursday that she saw the Rev. Gerald Robinson coming out of the chapel doors with a dark duffel bag in his hands. "I nodded, and he nodded," said Grace Jones, who worked in a hospital laboratory.
Robinson, a former chaplain at the hospital, is accused of choking and stabbing Sister Margaret Ann Pahl.
Prosecutors spent the final day of their case trying to cast doubt about what Robinson, 68, told police, including his whereabouts the morning Sister Pahl was killed. The priest has maintained he was in his room until he was called when the nun's body was found.
For the first time during the trial, witnesses said they saw Robinson in the vicinity of the chapel.
Sightings
Medical technician Leslie Kerner said she saw Mr. Robinson by the doors of the chapel about an hour before another nun discovered Sister Pahl's body.
"He just had dark clothing on," Kerner said.
Under defense questioning, she said she did not know if Mr. Robinson was leaving or entering the chapel. Defense attorney Alan Konop pointed out that, according to a police report, Kerner told investigators that she looked down the hallway and didn't see anyone.
Kerner said she did not tell police that she saw Mr. Robinson that morning because they only asked her if she saw anyone unusual in the hallway.
Jones, who worked in a hospital laboratory, said she was waiting for an elevator when she saw Mr. Robinson come out the chapel doors. She couldn't recall exactly what time she saw him, but it was the same morning the nun was killed and before her body was found.
"He had a duffel bag in his hand," she said, adding that he walked by her and toward an exit door and another elevator. She said she did not know where he went.
Mr. Robinson was a suspect early on because his living quarters were near the chapel, but he wasn't charged until two years ago when authorities reopened the case. Prosecutors were expected to wrap up their case against him Thursday afternoon with the testimony of two investigators.
Third worker
A third former hospital employee, Dr. Jack Baron, said he was just ending his shift when he heard an emergency call to come to the chapel.
Baron accidentally ran past the chapel and saw a man walking toward the chapel wearing black garments and a priest's collar, he said.
Baron didn't know whether the man was Mr. Robinson, he testified after looking at photos of Mr. Robinson from the time.
The man in the hallway looked over his shoulder at Baron, he said.
"He gave me a stare that went right through me," Baron said.
When the doctor turned around and ran back to the chapel, the priest was no longer around and Baron was told that the nun was already dead, he testified.
Evidence
Prosecutors' case has focused heavily on Mr. Robinson's letter opener, which they say was used to kill Sister Pahl. Experts on blood stains said a stain on an altar cloth that was covering the nun's body resembled an image of the U.S. Capitol on the letter opener's dime-sized medallion.
DNA tests on the cloth, the letter opener and a stain on Sister Pahl's undergarments did not link Mr. Robinson to the scene, according to DNA experts' testimony.
Investigators say stab wounds on Sister Pahl's chest formed an upside-down cross, a symbol that an expert on Roman Catholic law and the occult testified Monday has been used in satanic worship and could have been intended to mock God.
The Rev. Jeffrey Grob said only a priest, nun or seminary student would understand the significance of the inverted cross along with other aspects of the crime scene, including a small streak of blood on the nun's forehead that could have been made by someone forming the sign of the cross on her head.
Mr. Robinson could get life in prison if convicted of murder.