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	Judge Rules Defense Can't Portray Cash Found in Chatham Priest's Sock Drawer As Hush Money By Peggy Wright Daily Record December 14, 2011 http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20111214/NJNEWS/312140029/Judge-rules-defense-can-t-portray-cash-found-in-Chatham-priest-s-sock-drawer-as-hush-money Lawyers for murder suspect Jose Feliciano cannot argue or imply that slay victim Rev. Edward Hinds had $10,000 in his sock drawer that he planned to give Feliciano as "hush money" for the homosexual relationship the suspect claims they had, a judge ruled Wednesday. After Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi finished his seventh day of cross-examining the homicide suspect, defense lawyers tried to call Prosecutor's Office Lt. Steve Wilson to the stand to testify about $10,000 found in Rev. Edward Hinds' sock drawer after he was stabbed to death on Oct. 22, 2009. The defense's intended purpose was to try to show that Hinds, the pastor of St. Patrick R.C. Church in Chatham, had cash on hand he could give Feliciano to remain silent about their relationship after he fired the church's longtime janitor on Oct. 22, 2009. Bianchi was livid at the prospect of the discovered cash being depicted as hush money and Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan said defense lawyers Neill Hamilton and Balin Baidwan could not portray it that way. But the judge said the money, some in traveler's checks issued years ago and another $5,000 in a sealed envelope and given to the priest by an elderly parishioner, could be used as evidence to show the priest had the means to assist Feliciano after he was fired. "There is nothing in the record that indicates Father Edward Hinds offered this money to Mr. Feliciano as hush money," the judge said. When he first took the witness stand more than two weeks ago, the 66-year-old Feliciano had started to explain that the priest offered to help him financially but his remarks were not fully explored. Bianchi accused the defense of sullying the priest's reputation throughout the trial and Hamilton countered that the priest was a "predator" who foisted himself sexually upon the janitor for years. "Now he's murdering his soul and his reputation here in the courtroom," Bianchi said. Wilson, the prosecutor's office lieutenant, is expected to be called Thursday at trial to give limited testimony about the $10,000 finding. Feliciano has admitted he stabbed the priest to death in the rectory but claims he did so in a homicidal rage when the priest abruptly fired him on Oct. 22, 2009, after subjecting him for years to sexual fondling. Feliciano claims the priest knew he was a fugitive from a charge of abusing a child in Philadelphia and extorted sex from him in exchange for keeping quiet. Prosecutors contend the story is a lie; that the pastor fired Feliciano as soon as he verified the Philadelphia charge and paid for the firing with his life. Bianchi showed the jury portions of Feliciano's videotaped confession with office Capt. Jeffrey Paul on Oct. 24, 2009. Much of his cross-examination sought to expose inconsistencies between the 2009 version and Feliciano's testimony in court. At the end of his questioning, Bianchi focused hard on evidence that Hinds had conducted a computer records search on Feliciano's background in the late summer and fall of 2009 and learned that the janitor was a fugitive who couldn't be working around children. That evidence presumably would mean that the priest wouldn't conduct a records search if he already knew about Feliciano's past. Contact: pwright@njpressmedia.com
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