Excustodian Accused in Chatham Priest Slaying Was Not Fingerprinted for Background Check, by Ben Horowitz, The Star-Ledger , May 2, 2011

Ex-custodian Accused in Chatham Priest Slaying Was Not Fingerprinted for Background Check

By Ben Horowitz
The Star-Ledger
May 2, 2011

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/05/man_accused_in_chatham_priest.html

Jose Feliciano's confession will be allowed to be used in court. The former janitor at a Chatham church is accused of killing the priest.

The administrative assistant at a Chatham church testified today that former church custodian Jose Feliciano hadn’t complied with a requirement to be fingerprinted two months before he is accused of killing the former parish priest.

Administrative assistant Jeannine Sorrentino testified at a hearing where the prosecutor is seeking to gain permission to introduce Feliciano’s prior criminal record at his trial. When Feliciano allegedly stabbed the Rev. Edward Hinds to death on Oct. 22, 2009, the then-custodian was a fugitive from a 1988 Pennsylvania charge of indecent assault on a seven-year-old girl.

Feliciano, who worked at St. Patrick's elementary school as well as the church, was the only employee or volunteer at St. Patrick who hadn’t met the requirements for background checks set by the Diocese of Paterson for those who have contact with children, Sorrentino said.

After discovering Feliciano’s fingerprint card hadn’t been “laminated” by the state, Sorrentino said she called the problem to Hinds’ attention in the late summer of 2009.

Hinds said “he would look into it,” Sorrentino testified. Feliciano, now 66, of Easton, Pa., allegedly stabbed Hinds to death two months later.

The background checks were required for an audit of the diocese being conducted for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, as part of its efforts to prevent sexual abuse of youngsters, testified Kenneth Mullaney, general counsel to the diocese whose area includes Chatham.

Morris County Assistant Prosecutor John McNamara Jr. is seeking to prove that Feliciano stabbed Hinds because the priest was preparing to fire him after learning of his criminal background.

Feliciano’s attorney, public defender Neill Hamilton, has argued there is no proof that Hinds ever discussed the Pennsylvania charge with Feliciano.

In a video-recorded interview with an investigator for the Morris County Prosecutor’s Office, Feliciano said he stabbed Hinds during an argument after the priest threatened to fire him for ending a four-year sexual affair.

McNamara contends that Feliciano’s “self-serving” confession could be used to argue he was provoked into stabbing Hinds and as proof that it was not a murder, but a “passion/provocation manslaughter.”