Janitor in Chatham Priest Murder Trial Says He Used Just One Knife, Not Two, by Peggy Wright, Daily Record, December 6, 2011

Janitor in Chatham Priest Murder Trial Says He Used Just One Knife, Not Two

By Peggy Wright
Daily Record
December 6, 2011

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20111206/NJNEWS/312060021/Janitor-in-Chatham-priest-murder-trial-says-he-used-just-one-knife-not-two

Jose Feliciano, seen in court last week, is charged with fatally stabbing the Rev. Edward Hinds in Chatham. He is on trial in state Superior Court in Morristown. / NJ PRESS MEDIA 2011

Jose Feliciano denied Tuesday that he broke one knife and grabbed another to finish stabbing the Rev. Edward Hinds to death in Chatham, but admitted leaving his bloody fingerprints on a cutlery drawer in the rectory when he considered hiding the knife inside.

Feliciano, 66, was on the witness stand at his murder trial in Morristown for a fifth day, during which Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi continued pressing him on inconsistencies between his trial testimony and a confession he gave Prosecutor’s Office Capt. Jeffrey Paul on Oct. 24, 2009.

Hinds, the 61-year-old pastor of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham, was stabbed 44 times in the rectory on Oct. 22, 2009.

Feliciano has alleged that the priest sexually molested him for years and that he flew into a spontaneous “homicidal rage” when Hinds told him on Oct. 22, 2009, that he was fired as church custodian after 18 years.

Prosecutors contend that the defense is a sham, and that the priest fired Hinds because he had discovered he was wanted in Philadelphia for a crime against a little girl and could not continue working around children.

To erode the notion of the killing being done in the throes of passion or provocation, Bianchi pressed Feliciano on why he took pains to wipe up blood in the rectory and why a fragment from a broken knife was found near Hinds’ body.

Police found a discarded steak knife near Feliciano’s home in Easton, Pa., and he has identified it as the weapon, but it is intact. Bianchi charged Tuesday that Feliciano actually used several knives, but the ex-janitor insisted he used just one.

Feliciano also said he “blacked out” during his struggle with the priest in the rectory kitchen and does not remember moment-by-moment details or how many times he stabbed the victim. Referring to a section of the 152-page transcribed statement that Feliciano gave Paul in 2009, Bianchi noted that Feliciano had indicated he had stabbed the priest just a few times at first and had chances to stop his attack before it was too late.

“But you only stabbed him a couple times. At that point clearly you had not killed him. You could have stopped it at that point,” Paul had said to Feliciano in 2009. Feliciano replied: “Well, he was moving.”

In court Tuesday, Feliciano explained that both he and the priest “were moving. I just went crazy. We was struggling.”

Defense lawyer Neill Hamilton wanted the jury to hear the entire videotaped statement that Feliciano gave Paul, because he said the admissions would be put in a more organized context and the jury could see how distraught the defendant was.

Assistant Prosecutor David Bruno argued against showing the jury the entire taped statement, and the judge agreed, but said the defense could select portions they believe demonstrate consistency in the statements, and they can elicit from Feliciano how he felt during the confession.

The trial will resume at 1:30 p.m. Monday.

Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com