By Ben Horowitz
The Star-Ledger
December 1, 2011
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/11/prosecution_looks_to_poke_hole.html
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| Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi, right, holds the knife used in the stabbing death of the Rev. Edward Hinds as he questions alleged murderer Jose Feliciano during cross-examination. |
The prosecution hammered away at a former church custodian for the second straight day Wednesday, maintaining he gave investigators two different accounts of the event that led to the fatal stabbing of a Chatham priest.
Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi accused a nervous and shaky Jose Feliciano of telling two tales, first that the Rev. Edward Hinds fired him for ending their sexual affair and that the priest let him go because of unspecified problems.
Feliciano has said Hinds was blackmailing him for sex and then fired him five months before the janitor would have been eligible to retire. Feliciano maintains the case is one of manslaughter, which carries a lighter sentence than the murder charge he faces.
The custodian has admitted stabbing Hinds 44 times on Oct. 22, 2009, but said he was provoked when the priest fired him after allegedly blackmailing him for four years, forcing unwanted sexual contact in exchange for keeping the custodian’s criminal past quiet.
Feliciano testified Monday that he killed Hinds after the priest called him into the rectory at St. Patrick Church to fire him because of unexplained "problems in the parish."
In his cross-examination Wednesday, Robert Bianchi pointed out that in an initial interview with an investigator, Feliciano said something very different.
In that interview, Feliciano said Hinds told him, "he was going to have to let me go or else we have to continue the way we have." Feliciano said that meant he would have to allow the priest to keep touching his genitals or get fired.
But Wednesday, Bianchi accused Feliciano of making up the priest’s statement.
"That is a lie under oath, is it not?" Bianchi asked, referring to the interview with the investigator, Capt. Jeffrey Paul of the prosecutor’s office, which was conducted two days after the killing.
"Yes, sir," Feliciano answered quietly.
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| Murder suspect Jose Feliciano gestures how he pulled the knife away from murder victim, Father Edward Hinds while the men argued. |
The prosecution contends Feliciano stabbed Hinds in a planned attack after the priest fired him upon learning he was a fugitive from criminal charges since 1988, in a case that involved a child in Pennsylvania. Bianchi also pressed Feliciano on his statements about other aspects of the killing, like the small steak knife used to stab Hinds.
Feliciano testified this week that he found the knife on a kitchen table in the rectory and picked it up because he had become "angry" during the meeting with Hinds. Feliciano said he then went into the parish center to cool off but later returned and stabbed the priest.
Bianchi again sought to poke holes in Feliciano’s testimony, pointing out that in the Oct. 24, 2009, interview with Paul, Feliciano said, "The knife was in the parish center. I left and came back with the knife."
That did not represent a change in his story, Feliciano contended.
"I carried the knife to the parish center and I brought it back," he said. "I made a decision to get away from him for a little while," Feliciano said, now on the verge of tears. He returned to the rectory because Hinds had told him to come back to "finish the conversation."
Bianchi countered, "Why would he ask you to come back when you had pulled a knife on him? You threatened him to keep your job?"
"If that’s considered a threat," Feliciano answered, maintaining he wasn’t holding the knife in a threatening manner at that point.
Bianchi also asked Feliciano why he would go to the church business administrator when he became concerned about losing his job in 2008. The prosecutor said Feliciano had testified that in 2006, Hinds told him he would "take care of his family" and would always have a job with the church as long as he let the priest touch his private area.
"Why not go to the guy who was sexually assaulting you, so you could keep your job? He promised you," Bianchi said in a sarcastic tone.
Feliciano had no explanation, saying flatly, "because that’s what I did. I didn’t want to bother him."
Feliciano will be on the witness stand for a fourth day today. The defense is expected to call at least two more witnesses after that, and then the prosecution will have at least one rebuttal witness. The trial is expected to last at least through Tuesday.
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