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	Jury to Hear Opening Remarks Today in Priest Killing By Peggy Wright Daily Record October 19, 2011 http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20111019/NJNEWS/310190011/Jury-selected-to-hear-trial-of-janitor-accused-of-killing-Chatham-priest Opening statements will be made today in the murder trial of church janitor Jose Feliciano, who is accused of stabbing his employer, the Rev. Edward Hinds, 32 times in the kitchen of the rectory of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham. A jury of eight men and eight women was impaneled Wednesday to hear the trial in Superior Court, Morristown, that is expected to last up to eight weeks. It could include testimony from Feliciano’s wife, Marisol, their teenage son and daughter, and numerous church officials and detectives. Feliciano, now 66 and of Easton, Pa., was one of the people who “discovered” the 61-year-old cleric around 8 a.m. on Oct. 23, 2009, after he failed to appear to celebrate morning Mass. Witnesses at the scene of the discovery have said that Feliciano appeared half-hearted as he administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation to the already-deceased priest, whom authorities learned had been stabbed the evening of Oct. 22, 2009. Authorities have as evidence a 911 call they believe Hinds was able to make as he was in the process of being murdered. The call cut off, but a dispatcher called back and a person later identified as Feliciano answered and said there was no emergency. Police later found the remnants of the priest’s cellular phone near Feliciano’s home in Pennsylvania. Prosecutors contend that the priest, while conducting a long-overdue background check on Feliciano, found information that indicated the janitor was concealing a criminal past and the priest planned to fire him. Feliciano gave a Prosecutor’s Office captain a confession two days after the killing. Prosecutors are presenting the case as murder, or that Feliciano purposely and knowingly intended to kill Hinds. But defense lawyers have indicated they are likely to pursue a passion/provocation manslaughter defense, or that the homicide occurred while Feliciano was in the throes of uncontrollable emotion. Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com
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