Janitor Accused of Murdering Chatham Priest Is Rescheduled for Court Date, The Star Ledger, October 28, 2009

Janitor Accused of Murdering Chatham Priest Is Rescheduled for Court Date

The Star-Ledger
October 28, 2009

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2009/10/janitor_accused_of_murdering_c.html

Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi holds up a photo of Jose Feliciano of Easton, Pa., at the county's administration building in Morristown. on Saturday. Feliciano is being held in connection with the death of Rev. Ed Hinds, pastor of St. Patrick's Church in Chatham.

CHATHAM BOROUGH -- A church janitor accused of killing a parish priest last week will have his first court appearance in court Thursday before Judge Thomas Manahan, a Superior Court judge in Morristown, officials said.

A bail hearing for Jose Feliciano, 64 of Easton, Pa. who was arrested Saturday and charged with killing Rev. Edward Hinds of St. Patrick Church in Chatham on Thursday, was scheduled to be held Tuesday in Superior Court in Morristown. It was abruptly postponed, and Feliciano was transferred from Morristown Memorial Hospital to the Ann Klein Forensic Center, a psychiatric hospital in Trenton.

Feliciano has been held in lieu of $1 million bail since his arrest. He suffers from various ailments and has remained hospitalized since Friday, after Hinds' body was discovered at the church rectory stabbed 32 times with a kitchen knife after the pastor failed to show up in church for 8 a.m. Mass.

Feliciano was arrested the following day and charged with Hinds' murder. Police said Felicano, a janitor at the church since 1992, confessed to the killing.

Court records filed Tuesday said Hinds, 61, on Oct. 21 told Marianne Hobbie, principal of St. Patrick School, he might "let go" Feliciano because his employment record indicated he hadn’t passed a background check.