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	Chatham Priest Slaying Trial: Details of Jose Feliciano's Prior Charges Off-Limits By Peggy Wright Daily Record November 5, 2011 http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20111104/NJNEWS/311040021/Chatham-priest-slaying-trial-Details-of-Jose-Feliciano-s-prior-charges-off-limits A Morris County jury has been told that the custodian on trial for killing the Rev. Edward Hinds in Chatham was wanted in Philadelphia for offenses involving a child but will not be told he was accused of sexual misconduct with a 7-year-old girl. Defense lawyers and county prosecutors handling the murder trial of Jose Ramon Feliciano, 66, on Thursday reached an agreement under which jurors were read a statement of stipulated facts. The stipulation did not detail the sexual nature of the charge that was filed against Feliciano in April 1988. But the stipulation stated that Feliciano failed to appear in court in Philadelphia in May 1988 and a bench warrant for his arrest still was active as of Oct. 22, 2009. That's the day that Hinds, the 61-year-old pastor of St. Patrick Church in Chatham was fatally stabbed 32 times in the kitchen of the rectory. The stipulation reduces the number of witnesses that prosecutors will have to call to trial and controls the extent of potentially prejudicial information the jury might receive about Feliciano's past. Prosecutors contend that Hinds had gathered information about Feliciano's criminal past and planned to fire him but that Feliciano murdered him and tried to conceal his actions to prevent losing his longtime job. The defense has not yet put on its case, but defense attorneys contend that the cleric had forced Feliciano into performing certain deeds, as yet unspecified, and that Feliciano reacted in a spontaneous homicidal rage fueled by passion and provocation. County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi on Thursday called as a witness Michael Brough, a St. Patrick's parishioner and active volunteer in the church's music ministry and pastoral council. To show that Hinds was tremendously busy, without time on his hands to force Feliciano into certain acts, Bianchi elicited from Brough that Hinds maintained a hectic daily schedule. Saying he was a good friend who frequently communicated with and saw the priest during a six-year period, Brough testified that Hinds "worked many hours." "As the sole priest, he was responsible for everything ultimately in the parish," Brough said, explaining that Hinds celebrated Mass most every day, visited sick parishioners, organized finances and ran numerous meetings of parish councils. The trial is expected to continue Monday before state Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan in Morristown. Contact: pwright@njpressmedia.com
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