Court Wont Free Terminally Ill Priest From Prison So He Can Die At Home

A federal court has denied a terminally ill priest's request to be released from prison so he can die at home, the Associated Press reported.

Reverend Gerald Robinson is currently serving 15-years to life at a Columbus prison for murdering a nun in 1980. The 76-year-old priest is now close to the end of his life after suffering a massive heart attack in May.

A lawyer for the Roman Catholic priest, who is currently in hospice care at the prison, asked the court to grant Robinson's wish to die in his hometown of Toledo. There he would be in the custody of his brother and sister-in-law and would not pose a danger to anyone.

"In this instance what is sought is an act of grace for a dying man, relief the state cannot fashion," Richard Kerger, the priest's attorney, wrote in his petition obtained by the Toledo Blade. "Yet the fact that the state has not provided for such relief does not mean that the federal court is impotent."

But according to federal law, Robinson is not eligible for compassionate release, Judge James Gwin of U.S. District Court ruled on Wednesday. Furthermore, the judge said his court does not have the legal authority to grant the dying priest's request, according to the AP.

The priest's lawyer also appealed to Governor John Kasich to approve the release but the governor's hands were tied. Acceding to state law, "no inmate is eligible for release under this section if the inmate is serving...a sentence for aggravated murder or murder," the newspaper reported.

Robinson was convicted in 2006 for the slaying of Sister Margaret Ann Pahl in the sacristy of the now defunct Mercy Hospital chapel in Toledo, according to the Toledo Blade. The nun was found stabbed and strangled.

Robinson has maintained he is innocent. He has an estimated one to two months to live, according to his lawyer.