After a few days of pre-trial activity and jury selection, the trial of the priest accusing of murdering a nun years ago began yesterday in Toledo.
After the two sides finished opening statements, the 12 jurors and four alternates were taken by bus to the former hospital, now a college, about 1½ miles from the Lucas County Courthouse where the trial is being held.
They were led on a 40-minute tour of the complex that included stops at the chapel, sacristy, and a small two-room apartment where Father Robinson lived in 1980 when he was Mercy Hospital’s chaplain.
During the tour, court Bailiff Tanya Butler read from a carefully worded script that had been approved by attorneys for both sides, telling jurors to pay attention to certain places and details of the hospital complex without explaining their connections to the case.
The jurors were told, for example, to note the size of two rooms at the end of a hallway, but were not informed that it was where Father Robinson had lived.
They also were guided through the sacristy but were not told that it was where Sister Margaret Ann’s body was found.
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