By Ben Horowitz
The Star-Ledger
November 1, 2011
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/dna_tests_confirm_blood_of_sla.html
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| Jose Feliciano, a former church custodian accused of murder in the stabbing death of the Rev. Edward Hinds, a Chatham priest, enters the Morris County Courthouse in Morristown. (Jennifer Brown/The Star-Ledger) |
The DNA of a slain Chatham priest was found “to a scientific certainty” in blood that smeared the inside liner of a maroon jacket belonging to the former church custodian accused of killing him, according to both the prosecutor and defense attorney.
Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi today read to the jury DNA test results that he and public defender Neill Hamilton agreed on in a “stipulation” that won’t require testimony in the murder trial.
Jose Feliciano, now 66, of Easton, Pa., is accused in the Oct. 22, 2009 stabbing death of the Rev. Edward Hinds, 61, of St. Patrick Church.
Hamilton has acknowledged Feliciano stabbed Hinds, but said it was manslaughter, and not murder, because the priest provoked the janitor with unspecified acts.
Bianchi presented the stipulated information during another day of testimony in Superior Court in Morristown by officials from the county prosecutor’s and sheriff’s offices who investigated the killing during the days and weeks after it happened.
The maroon jacket was among items collected by investigators from Feliciano’s home in Easton two days after the killing.
Bianchi said Hinds' DNA was also traced with certainty in blood found in towels and paper towels discovered in a garbage can in a park across the street from Feliciano’s house the day after the killing.
Bianchi added that jeans and a sweatshirt found in Feliciano’s home had blood, but no DNA evidence could be ascertained. Also, he said, “no forensic evidence” was found on three other key pieces of evidence found in the park near the janitor’s home – Hinds’ cell phone; a steak knife that may have been used in the killing; and the receiver from the land-line telephone that had been taken from the rectory where the priest was slain.
Three investigators all testified that they examined Feliciano and found that his only injury was a small cut on his left hand, indicating that Hinds may not have put up much of a struggle.
“There was no bruising, no scratch marks, no signs to make me think he was in any kind of a violent altercation. There were no signs of any injury that would be conducive to a fight,” said Sheriff’s Detective James Rae.
Rae acknowledged that none of the knives found in the rectory where Hinds was slain or in the adjoining parish center matched the knife found in the park.
Opening a new line of evidence, Detective Chris Kimker of the prosecutor’s office testified at the end of the day that on Oct. 24, 2009, he collected fingerprint cards submitted by St. Patrick’s employees, but Feliciano hadn’t submitted one.
More testimony about the investigation into Feliciano’s criminal background is expected when the trial continues tomorrow. The prosecution is seeking to prove that Feliciano plotted to murder Hinds because the priest was preparing to fire him after learning he was a fugitive from a Pennsylvania charge involving a juvenile.
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