Star-Ledger
August 6, 2010
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/08/court_documents_say_chatham_pr.html
[with video]
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| Morris County Sheriff's Officers lead accused murderer Jose Feliciano into Superior Court in Morristown for a conference on the status of his case, in this July 28, 2010 file photo. |
Court documents filed today provide new details in the savage stabbing death of a Chatham priest last year, including the suspect’s claim that he attacked the Rev. Edward Hinds because the clergyman refused to end a four-year sexual affair.
The motive offered by Jose Feliciano, a longtime janitor at St. Patrick Church, was quickly countered by prosecutors, who wrote Hinds was preparing to fire his employee after learning of a 1988 arrest in Philadelphia for inappropriately touching a child. Feliciano, 64, had been a fugitive ever since.
The dueling motives are found in a 15-page motion filed in Superior Court in Morristown. The Morris County Prosecutor’s Office is seeking to introduce Feliciano’s criminal history at his trial, which is likely to take place late next year.
Prior “bad acts” are typically not permitted as evidence in criminal trials. But Assistant Prosecutor John McNamara Jr. wrote Feliciano’s past lies are at the heart of the Oct. 22 killing. Moreover, he said, authorities have found no evidence of an affair between Feliciano and Hinds, 61, the church pastor.
“The investigation into the defendant’s criminal history is ... relevant to impeach his self-serving claim that he had a homosexual relationship with the victim as the basis for stabbing the victim dozens of times,” McNamara wrote.
Hinds’ body was found after he failed to show up for morning Mass. He’d been stabbed 32 times in the head and chest. Witnesses said Feliciano half-heartedly attempted to revive the priest after the discovery.
Detectives charged him two days later, after tracing Hinds’ cell phone to the area of Feliciano’s home in Easton, Pa. Court documents state he confessed to Capt. Jeffrey Paul, an investigator with the prosecutor’s office, while “convalescing” at Morristown Memorial Hospital.
Feliciano’s defense lawyer, public defender Neill Hamilton, could not be reached for comment.
The motion filed today spells out in detail how Hinds began to investigate Feliciano’s past after learning he was the only church employee who had not undergone a criminal background check. Such checks became required in the aftermath of the clergy sex abuse scandal in 2003.
A forensic search of Hinds’ computer showed he used two different websites to research Feliciano’s background, paying for the service with an American Express card. He found Feliciano had been arrested in April 1988 on charges of indecent assault, simple assault and corrupting the morals of a child.
A police report on the incident said Feliciano had touched a woman’s 7-year-old daughter in a sexual manner. Feliciano later failed to appear in court, obscuring his identity by using different names and Social Security numbers.
With the evidence in hand, Hinds told Marian Hobbie, the St. Patrick School principal, he would have to “let Jose go,” according to the filing. Authorities say Feliciano reacted with fury when Hinds confronted him with the findings.
Feliciano, who is married and has a daughter, told a different story in his confession.
“Defendant stated that he previously told Father Hinds that he no longer wanted to continue their relationship and that Father Hinds told him that if he did not continue the relationship, then he would be fired,” McNamara wrote.
After an argument, Feliciano said, he took a knife from the rectory kitchen and attacked the priest.
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