By Ben Horowitz
The Star-Ledger
December 1, 2011
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/former_church_janitor_admits_h.html
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| Using a marker and a larger aerial photograph of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church, alleged murderer Jose Feliciano looks toward the jury while retracing his movements on the day that Father Edward Hinds was stabbed to death. |
Former church custodian Jose Feliciano testified today that he grabbed a cell phone from a Chatham priest who was calling for help as he was being stabbed to death.
The admission that could buttress a charge of felony murder against Feliciano came on his fourth day of testimony, as the prosecution aggressively probed for inconsistencies in his story.
A tape of a 911 call, played during Feliciano’s murder trial in Morristown, showed the Rev. Edward Hinds gave the address of the rectory at St. Patrick Church before the emergency call was cut off.
Feliciano acknowledged today he was "struggling" with Hindswhen the priest called 911, and Feliciano "grabbed" the phone after hearing someone answer.
That statement could bolster the charge of felony murder, which accuses him of killing the priest while committing a felony — the robbery of the cell phone. The phone was found in a park near Feliciano’s home in Easton, Pa., two days after the killing on Oct. 22, 2009.
Feliciano, 66, is on trial in Superior Court on charges of both murder and felony murder. A conviction on either would require a prison sentence of 30 years to life.
Feliciano admits killing Hinds but claims the stabbing was a "passion/provocation manslaughter" — a second-degree crime, carrying a sentence of five to 10 years.
Feliciano says he was provoked into attacking Hinds when the priest fired him. This came, he testified, after the priest had blackmailed him for four years by threatening to reveal a criminal warrant from Pennsylvania for the janitor’s arrest. In exchange for Hinds’ silence, Feliciano has said, he had to let the priest touch his genitals.
During day three of cross-examination, Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi pressed Feliciano on the issues of where he got the steak knife used in the stabbing and whether he had claimed Hinds had attacked him.
Bianchi again had Feliciano review the transcript of his three-hour interview conducted two days after the killing by Capt. Jeffrey Paul of the prosecutor’s office, Bianchi is seeking to prove Feliciano changed parts of his story during his testimony.
Feliciano has given three accounts of where he got the knife. During the interview with Paul, he first said he left the rectory and got it from the parish center before returning to the rectory. Later, he told Paul he left the rectory and got the knife from St. Patrick School.
During the trial, Feliciano has steadfastly maintained he picked the knife up from a kitchen table in the rectory when he became "angry" during an argument after Hinds fired him. Feliciano said he briefly left for the parish center, and then returned with the knife to the rectory because Hinds asked him to come back.
"Are you just saying that for this jury?" Bianchi asked. "Do you know that if you brought that knife with you, it would be evidence of your intent to kill?"
"I don’t understand the question," Feliciano replied.
Bianchi asked Feliciano the distance from the rectory to the school.
"You will also notice that first I said the parish center. Then I said I got it from the school," Feliciano replied.
Repeating he found the knife in the rectory, Feliciano said he was "just rambling and talking" during the interview with Paul.
"I was saying all kinds of stuff. I was tired. I was under some medication," Feliciano said.
Bianchi replied, "Your story had to be a complete fabrication. That’s why your story is changing."
"No, sir," replied Feliciano. He maintained his memory of the incident is "better in 2011" than it was in 2009.
Feliciano told Paul that after he started stabbing Hinds, the priest took the knife away from him and then Feliciano "took it back."
"This makes it appear Father Ed was attacking you," Bianchi said. "When you talked to Capt. Paul, you made it appear he had the knife."
"No," Feliciano replied. "I had the knife. I explained that."
When asked about the incident later, however, Feliciano described a struggle after he started attacking the priest.
"He threw me down. I put the knife down. He grabbed it, and I took it, and then we went down," Feliciano said.
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