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	New Witness Emerges As Trial for Man Accused of Stabbing Chatham Priest Is about to Begin By Peggy Wright Daily Record October 17, 2011 http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20111017/NJNEWS/310170018/New-witness-emerges-as-trial-for-man-accused-of-stabbing-Chatham-priest-is-about-to-begin Morris County prosecutors disclosed Monday that murder suspect Jose Feliciano was counseled by a nun who they may try to call as a witness at the custodian’s trial on charges of stabbing Rev. Edward Hinds in Chatham two years ago. The emergence of the potential new witness pushed final jury selection to Wednesday. Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan, sitting in Morristown, said he would conduct a pre-trial hearing Tuesday afternoon at which the Catholic sister, affiliated with the Sisters of Charity, is expected to testify about her professional or spiritual relationship with Feliciano. Before prosecutors could use the nun as a witness, the judge has to determine the exact nature of the nun’s connection with Feliciano and whether their communications fall into a privileged, confidential category and cannot be revealed. County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi said that information detectives learned about the counseling “would put a spear in the heart of the defense.” Feliciano, the now-66-year-old longtime custodian of St. Patrick R.C. Church, contended in a confession to police that he stabbed the 61-year-old cleric on Oct. 22, 2009, because Hinds threatened to fire him if he ended their four-year homosexual relationship. Bianchi noted that it was Hinds himself who referred Feliciano for counseling, an act which “flies in the face of and belies the defense he was being sexually assaulted by this person.” Prosecutors have alleged that Feliciano, of Easton, Pa., killed because the priest had discovered criminal secrets from his past and planned to fire him. Prosecutors and defense lawyers were supposed to exercise peremptory challenges Monday and select a 16-member jury to hear the homicide case. As of now, the trial will not start until Wednesday or Thursday at the earliest. Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com
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