By Peggy Wright
Daily Record
August 22, 2011
http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20110822/NJNEWS/308220026/Morris-prosecutor-wants-to-review-psychiatric-records-of-man-charged-with-killing-Chatham-priest
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| Jose Feliciano attends a hearing at the Morris Couty Courthouse in July. / Alex Lewis/Special to the Daily Record |
The Morris County Prosecutor's Office wants to review confidential medical and psychiatric records of defendant Jose Feliciano to see what statements, if any, he made to doctors or therapists about the killing in 2009 of the Rev. Edward Hinds in Chatham.
County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi on Monday made the request to Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan in Morristown, and it was adamantly opposed by defense lawyer Balin Baidwan.
Feliciano, the church janitor who is accused of fatally stabbing the 61-year-old pastor of St. Patrick Church on Oct. 22, 2009, was admitted with chest pains to Morristown Medical Center on Oct. 23, 2009, after “discovering” the priest's body in the rectory and trying to revive him with CPR.
After he confessed and was arrested on Oct. 24, 2009, he spent a period of time at the Ann Klein Forensic Hospital in Trenton, where mentally unstable defendants are housed.
The judge ordered the records to be produced and said he would privately review them. The judge said he would act as “gatekeeper” of the records and that the prosecutor will have to make a stronger, more specific argument for why he should be permitted to read the records since they are heavily protected under federal law and court rules.
Manahan already has ruled that prosecutors can use the 66-year-Feliciano's confession at trial. He ultimately admitted to a detective that he stabbed the priest repeatedly, claiming the cleric had forced him into a sexual relationship and threatened to fire Feliciano if that relationship ended.
The state's theory is that Feliciano killed Hinds because the priest had discovered he was accused of child sexual abuse in Philadelphia in the 1980s and planned to fire him.
Bianchi said he expects Feliciano's lawyers to pursue a passion/provocation manslaughter defense and will try to tell jurors that the suspect was committed for a time after the killing in a psychiatric facility. The prosecutor said the state wants to be armed for trial with versions of the killing that Feliciano may have told doctors and therapists, since he gave various accounts to police before the final confession.
“Whatever Mr. Feliciano said...is by definition relevant for the state to have,” Bianchi said.
The murder trial is slated to start Sept. 6 with jury selection that could last a month or more. The judge said the selection process could be tougher than usual because of the strong feelings prospective jurors will likely have about a Roman Catholic priest being accused by his alleged killer of sexual abuse.
Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142 or pwright@njpressmedia.com
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