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	Defendant's Health Forces Trial Recess By Peggy Wright Daily Record December 12, 2011 http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20111212/NJNEWS/312120015/Trial-of-janitor-charged-with-Chatham-priest-murder-recessed-after-defendant-complains-of-pains The trial of ex-church janitor Jose Feliciano recessed after just 45 minutes Monday because he said he had a headache and back pain and the judge worried he might be answering questions about the slaying of the Rev. Edward Hinds under medical duress. On his sixth day on the witness stand, the 66-year-old defendant became emotional and appeared to be crying three times. He frequently rubbed his head while answering questions posed by Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi about the Oct. 22, 2009, slaying of the pastor of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham. Feliciano’s third outburst in half an hour occurred as Bianchi suggested he wasn’t struggling and rolling around the floor of the rectory with the priest but actually kept stabbing Hinds from an upright position while the priest was especially vulnerable, on the floor. “No sir!’’ Feliciano said in a voice cracking with emotion. He thumped the witness box table with his fist. “No sir, no! Don’t say that please. We were struggling.” Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan had the jury leave the room and defense lawyer Neill Hamilton asked that the trial, which started Monday at 2 p.m., recess for the day. Hamilton said that Feliciano had complained before taking the stand of a headache and backache and was given three Advil. Hamilton further conferred with Feliciano and the judge, over Bianchi’s objections, decided to recess for the day and resume today at 9 a.m. The judge said he was concerned that an appeals court could in the future determine that Feliciano was forced to continue testifying under duress. He said he also believed that Feliciano was being “non-responsive” to Bianchi’s questions. “This jury is not going to be influenced, I hope, by emotional outbursts. If he feels he cannot continue today, I’m not going to force the issue,” Manahan said. He instructed Feliciano to bring his physical condition to the attention of officials at the Morris County jail, where he has been held since his arrest in October 2009 for Hinds’ slaying. The trial had been projected to end this week but the judge has told jurors it could last at least until Dec. 23. Feliciano has admitted stabbing the priest, his employer at St. Patrick, but claims he did so in a homicidal rage because the priest had been molesting him for years and then abruptly fired him. Prosecutors have asserted the defense is a lie, fabricated by the janitor who was fired because Hinds had learned he was wanted in Philadelphia since 1988 for a sexual offense against a 7-year-old girl. Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com
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