Little Sisters of Poor have not agreed to take in Gerald Robinson

6/24/2014
BLADE STAFF

The Little Sisters of the Poor apparently have not agreed to accept convicted murderer Gerald Robinson as a patient at their Sacred Heart Home in Oregon.

In a court filing today, Rick Kerger, attorney for the dying Catholic priest, amended his petition seeking to have Robinson released from a prison hospital to return to Toledo. He informed the court that the Little Sisters “were not asked to care for, and have not made any commitment to care for” Robinson.

Mr. Kerger wrote that the error in his original petition for equitable relief filed on Friday was his own. He declined to comment Tuesday.

Last week, Mr. Kerger asked a federal court judge to release Robinson to the Little Sisters of the Poor or to Robinson's brother and sister-in-law in Toledo. Robinson, 76, is in a hospice unit at Franklin Medical Center, a Columbus hospital run by the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction, after suffering “a massive coronary.”

Robinson was convicted of murder in 2006 by a Lucas County Common Pleas Court jury for the 1980 slaying of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in the sacristy of the former Mercy Hospital chapel. He was sentenced to life in prison with parole eligibility after 15 years.