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  At Trial of Man Accused of Killing Chatham Priest, Sheriff's Officer Details Physical Evidence Collected

By Peggy Wright
Daily Record
October 25, 2011

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20111025/NJNEWS/310250031/At-trial-of-man-accused-of-killing-Chatham-priest-sheriff-s-officer-details-physical-evidence-collected

The labor that investigators poured into solving the homicide of St. Patrick Church pastor Rev. Edward Hinds was detailed for a jury Tuesday, with Morris County sheriff’s officers identifying evidence found in the Chatham rectory and at suspect Jose Feliciano’s home.

Sheriff’s Office Sgt. Mike Puzio, called as a trial witness by Assistant Prosecutor David Bruno, was present for the 61-year-old priest’s autopsy and participated in searches of Feliciano’s home in Easton, Pa., and a field across the street.

Feliciano, now 66 and the former church custodian, is being tried for the fatal stabbing on Oct. 22, 2009, of the cleric in the kitchen of the church rectory. Prosecutors allege he deliberately murdered the pastor, who had learned he was hiding a criminal past and meant to terminate him; defense lawyers contend Feliciano had been forced into certain acts, still unrevealed at trial, by the priest and reacted in rage when Hinds tried to fire him.

Puzio testified he was dispatched to collect evidence at and around Feliciano’s home in Pennsylvania, where a plastic bag containing bloody cloth towels and paper towels was found in a trash bin located across the street from the house. Authorities also located part of the slain priest’s cellular phone in Easton, Puzio said.

Inside Feliciano’s house, a blood-stained maroon nylon jacket was found on a chair in his basement, along with other garments. Authorities have said that tests performed on some of Feliciano’s clothing found in his house were positive for Hinds’ blood.

On Monday and part of Tuesday, Sheriff’s Officer Kelley Zienowicz described for jurors such evidence as blood stains found on a table pedestal base and a wall in the rectory, which prosecutors say is indicative of a struggle between the two men.

Puzio on Tuesday, when asked by Bruno, said that no written documents about or belonging to Hinds were found in Feliciano’s home during the search.

The jury is not sitting the rest of this week as Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan has other obligations, but testimony is expected to resume Monday.

Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com

 
 

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