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	Defense, Prosecutors Agree to Agree on Some Evidence in Murdered Chatham Priest Trial By Peggy Wright Daily Record November 1, 2011 http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20111101/NJNEWS/311010036/Defense-prosecutors-agree-to-agree-on-some-evidence-in-murdered-Chatham-priest-trial Morris County prosecutors and defense lawyers stipulated Tuesday that the blood of homicide victim Rev. Edward Hinds was found on suspect Jose Feliciano’s jacket, as well as on towels thrown into a trash can across the street from Feliciano’s home. A Morris County jury continued to hear testimony from state witnesses about the volume of evidence pointing to Feliciano as the killer but has yet to get a clue from the defense on reasons why the custodian, admittedly, stabbed the 61-year-old pastor of St. Patrick R.C. Church in Chatham 32 times on Oct. 22, 2009, in the rectory. Feliciano, now 66 and the janitor of the church for 18 years, also is charged with robbing Hinds by taking and allegedly breaking his cellular telephone. But testimony also showed that Feliciano left undisturbed $272 in the priest’s wallet found in his pants pocket and three checks totaling $1,097 that he was carrying in a pocket diary in his clothing. To increase the pace of the trial, prosecutors and defense attorneys agreed to stipulate to the jury that DNA tests showed the priest’s blood was found on the lining of a jacket Feliciano owned and on towels found in a trash can in a park located across the street from his home in Easton, Pa. The parties also are expected to stipulate in the next few days to the statement that Feliciano’s then-eighth-grade daughter gave investigators about her father’s behavior and actions on Oct. 22, 2009. The statement would be read to jurors as a substitute for the young girl being called to testify against her father. County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi and Assistant Prosecutor David Bruno on Tuesday called a succession of detectives to the stand to testify about evidence they found on Oct. 23, 2009, the day Hinds was discovered dead in the rectory, and in the days immediately afterward. Feliciano was at work when the priest was found and he rushed in to perform what a witness called a half-hearted attempt at cardiovascular resuscitation. Shortly afterward, he was taken to Morristown Medical Center because he was complaining of stress and had a rapid heartbeat. County Sheriff’s Office Detective Laura Flynn was dispatched to the hospital to photograph Feliciano and collect his clothing because he had come into contact with the priest through his CPR effort. Flynn said that Feliciano voluntarily mentioned to her he had tried CPR and wondered if he was wrong to do so. Both Flynn and Sheriff’s Office Detective James Rae, who photographed Feliciano’s full body after his arrest on Oct. 24, said that the janitor bore no signs of having been in a struggle. The only mark on him, they said, was a centimeter-long nick on one hand. “Through my training and experience it did not appear he was involved in a violent struggle or altercation,” Rae told the jury. Prosecutors contend that Feliciano murdered the cleric, who had discovered he was hiding a criminal past and meant to fire him by Oct. 23, 2009. The defense has argued that the priest got Feliciano to perform certain acts, not yet detailed, that made him fly into a homicidal rage. Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com
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