By Peggy Wright
Ashbury Park Press
February 13, 2011
http://www.app.com/article/20110211/NJNEWS14/110211033/Tape-Chatham-priest-was-stabbed-as-he-begged-for-life
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| Jose Feliciano is in court for hearings on whether his admissions to killing the Rev. Edward Hines on Oct. 22, 2009, in Chatham can be used against him at trial, in addition to two other motions. |
Even when the Rev. Edward Hinds begged for his life, custodian Jose Feliciano said he kept stabbing the Chatham church pastor because he feared no one would believe his story that the priest forced him into a sexual relationship, according to Feliciano's taped confession.
Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan on Thursday finished hearing a three-hour audiotaped confession and a half-hour video-recorded statement that Feliciano gave Morris County Prosecutor's Office Capt. Jeffrey Paul on Oct. 24, 2009, two days after the priest was slain in the rectory of St. Patrick's Roman Catholic Church.
"I wish, I wish, I wish I had a gun. I would blow my head up. I wish I had a gun, I would blow my head away," Feliciano, a now-65-year-old married father of two, told Paul after he admitted stabbing Hinds.
The judge's task is to decide whether police violated any of Feliciano's constitutional rights against self-incrimination or coerced him in any way into admitting guilt. If Manahan finds the suspect's rights were violated, Morris County Assistant Prosecutors John McNamara Jr. and David Bruno could not use the statements against Feliciano at trial.
The judge said he will hear arguments for and against the statements on Feb. 17 and sometime later rule on admissibility. When Paul interviewed Feliciano, the suspect was in a bed at Morristown Memorial Hospital where he was admitted for stress after "discovering" the priest's dead body in the rectory around 8 a.m. on Oct. 23, 2009.
Feliciano has claimed he killed Hinds because the priest wouldn't let their four-year sexual relationship end and threatened to fire him from the custodial church job he had held for 18 years if it did.
Prosecutors allege that Feliciano's story is a charade and that the killing was motivated by Feliciano's fear that the priest had discovered he was wanted in Philadelphia on a charge of molesting a child and planned to terminate him.
Defense lawyer Neill Hamilton questioned Paul on alleged "deceptive" tactics he used to interrogate Feliciano, including Paul referring to Feliciano as a "victim" himself of abuse and telling him he would help him through the criminal process. Hamilton accused Paul of deception and trying to lull Feliciano into "a false sense of security" as he confessed, and Paul replied: "I was talking to a killer. I didn't have any problem with it." Under case law, police are allowed to lie, develop rapport, and use trickery in speaking to suspects but cannot force them to talk nor make threats or promises of special treatment.
In his questioning, Paul elicited from Feliciano that he kept stabbing the priest even after Hinds begged him to stop and told him he wouldn't be fired. Feliciano, on tape, said he didn't intend to kill Hinds but kept stabbing because he felt no one would believe the priest threatened to fire him if their relationship ceased.
"I'm gonna tell the judge 'Just get rid of me,' " Feliciano said on tape. "The faster they get rid of me, the less punishment to others."
Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@gannett.com
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