By Ben Horowitz
The Star-Ledger
September 12, 2011
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/09/prosecutor_man_accused_of_fata.html
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| Jose Feliciano, who is accused of stabbing to death the Rev. Edward Hinds, a Chatham priest, at a previous court appearance in February 2011. |
In the middle of jury selection for the man charged with killing a Chatham priest, the Morris County prosecutor unexpectedly said the murder defendant had impregnated an 11-year-old girl "many years ago."
Superior Court Judge Thomas Manahan was taken aback by the information from Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi. Murder defendant Jose Feliciano’s public defender, Neill Hamilton, became infuriated.
Demanding a hearing on the admissibility of new evidence, Hamilton said, "If Mr. Bianchi think he can bring that in, he’ll guarantee a reversal. The only purpose here was to get that information to the press."
Although no one in the jury pool heard the statement, Manahan, sitting in Morristown, stopped jury selection, which started last week, pending a hearing later this week .
Bianchi made his revelation during a conference in open court on what "voir dire" questions can be posed to jurors for the trial of Feliciano.
The 66-year-old former church custodian is accused in the Oct. 22, 2009 stabbing death of the Rev. Edward Hinds, pastor at St. Patrick Church.
Bianchi said if Feliciano takes the stand in his defense, he will ask him about the impregnation issue. That would be in addition, he said, to another "prior bad act" previously discussed in court — a 1988 Pennsylvania charge against Feliciano of indecent assault on a 7-year-old girl.
Bianchi described the impregnation incident only as "an allegation of sexual impropriety from many years before. " He did not say whether it resulted in criminal charges.
Manahan had previously given the prosecution limited permission to introduce the 1988 case out of Philadelphia. The judge ruled he would let the prosecution tell the jury Feliciano is accused of a crime involving a child. But he said he would decide at a later time whether it may say the charge was indecent assault. Feliciano was a fugitive from that charge at the time of the priest’s stabbing.
Manahan said this was the first time he had heard "the particulars" of the impregnation incident, which occurred in New York. Manahan said all he had previously heard was the New York case involved a child.
"Voir dire" questions for the juror pool already approved by the judge include whether they would be biased against priests who have been accused of sexual activity, or whether they would be biased against Feliciano because of his past improprieties.
Bianchi added, as part of his effort to introduce prior bad acts, he recently received a letter sent from a Pennsylvania state trooper to Hinds dated Oct. 6, 2009 — two weeks before the priest was killed — listing the charges pending against Feliciano in that state. That letter will also be the subject of the new hearing on admission of evidence.
The prosecution contends Feliciano stabbed Hinds because the priest was preparing to fire him after learning of the Pennsylvania charge.
In a video-recorded statement, Feliciano said he stabbed Hinds during an argument after the priest threatened to fire him for ending their four-year sexual affair.
Feliciano, of Easton, Pa., has rejected the prosecution’s offer of a 30-year state prison sentence in exchange for a guilty plea to first-degree murder.
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