Prosecutor Tries to Prove Custodian Attacked Priest, by Laura Silvius, The Patch, December 1, 2011

Prosecutor Tries to Prove Custodian Attacked Priest

By Laura Silvius
The Patch
December 1, 2011

http://chatham.patch.com/articles/prosecutor-tries-to-prove-custodian-attacked-priest

Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi used a map of St. Patrick school and church, photos of the parish center kitchen and even the murder weapon in court Thursday in efforts to disprove Jose Feliciano's story that the murder weapon came from the rectory and that the victim attacked him with the knife first.

In prior testimony earlier this week, Feliciano, a former custodian at St. Patrick, said he "grabbed the knife" from a kitchen table in the rectory while speaking to Rev. Edward Hinds, the parish priest. Feliciano said he walked from the rectory to the parish center and started "opening up drawers and cabinets."

Bianchi showed the jury pictures of the parish center and the kitchen, including photos of two drawers, which contain knives.

Feliciano then said he walked back to the rectory, still holding the knife, to finish his conversation with Hinds.

Two days after Hinds' murder on Oct. 22, 2009, Feliciano confessed in a statement to Capt. Jeffrey Paul, of the prosecutor's office.

In the statement he said to Paul he was surprised that he'd killed Hinds because "it wasn't a good knife."

"Are you telling me that you don't know how someone can die when stabbed with this?" Bianchi asked, holding the knife. "Do you know that a knife can cause death when stabbed into a human body?" Feliciano said, "yes, sir."

Bianchi also asked Feliciano about statements made, both to Paul and under testimony, about who held the knife when the "fight" started. The statement says Hinds held the knife. "You made it appear to Capt. Paul that Father Ed had the knife and he was attacking you," Bianchi said.

"No, sir," Feliciano said. "I don't know how I killed him. I really don't."

Bianchi also examined Feliciano's contradictory statements. One such statement, given to Paul, said he approached Hinds about ending an alleged sexual relationship between the two, and that Hinds fired him, which led to the fight that ended Hinds' life.

"That's different than what you're saying to this jury today, isn't it?" Bianchi asked.

In testimony, Feliciano said Hinds found him while he was cleaning and said asked him to come to the rectory, where he told the custodian he was being let go "for parish reasons."

"It was both," said Feliciano under cross examination Thursday. "He said, 'Jose, I need to talk to you,' and I said, 'I want to talk to you, too, Father.'"

Feliciano admitted under cross examination that several things attributed to himself during his confession to Paul were actually spoken by Hinds, including, "Get away from me, get away from me, you're killing me." He also told Paul "I pushed him hard, very hard," but told Bianchi that wasn't the case.

"You overexaggerated that," Bianchi said.

Bianchi also asked who had Hinds' cell phone at the start of and during the fight. Hinds placed a 911 call, but the call ended quickly. When the operator called back, a voice said everything was fine.

Feliciano admitted in court he "hit him hard, and the phone fell," but said he didn't take the phone right away. "I grabbed the phone because it was ringing," Feliciano said under cross. "I grabbed the phone to answer it, but it wasn't the way it happened here [in the statement transcript.]"

"Here it says you grabbed the phone, and you're saying you grabbed the phone. They're the same thing," Bianchi said.