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	Jury's Request Halts Deliberations in Priest-murder Trial By Peggy Wright Daily Record December 20, 2011 http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20111220/NJNEWS/312200023/Jury-begins-deliberating-fate-of-janitor-charged-with-killing-Chatham-priest Minutes into deliberating the fate of ex-custodian Jose Ramon Feliciano on Tuesday, a Morris County jury’s request for a copy of the 59-page legal instructions they have to follow led to their dismissal for the day with orders to return at 11 a.m. today. The jury, composed of eight men and four women, and four female alternates, were orally given the legal charge Tuesday by Superior Court Judge Thomas V. Manahan, sitting in Morristown, and told they could have a copy in the jury room if they chose. The jury asked within a few minutes of starting deliberations but a copy wasn’t immediately provided, as Morris County Prosecutor Robert A. Bianchi argued that the printed charge wasn’t word for word the oral charge given by the judge and had typos. Manahan said he would watch the videotape of his charge recitation and match it to the printed charge for possible dissemination today to the jury, which has to decide whether Feliciano is guilty of murdering the Rev. Edward Hinds in Chatham on Oct. 22, 2009, or guilty of a lesser form of homicide called passion/provocation manslaughter. Feliciano, now 66, is accused of stabbing the 61-year-old cleric 44 times in the rectory of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham. The church janitor has admitted the killing but said he lashed out in a spontaneous rage when the priest abruptly fired him after five years of sexually fondling him. Prosecutors say there is no proof that Hinds abused Feliciano and no trial witnesses corroborated Feliciano. Prosecutors have argued that Hinds, in an effort to make Feliciano comply with a mandated background and fingerprint check, undertook his own investigation and only learned in 2009 that the janitor was a fugitive. Prosecutors say the priest terminated Feliciano on Oct. 22, 2009, because he had no choice and paid for his action with his life. Feliciano, a married father of two who lived in Easton, Pa., claimed he tolerated the molestation in exchange for the priest not divulging that Feliciano was a fugitive since 1988 for a crime against a child in Philadelphia. The jury has not specifically been told that Feliciano jumped bail on a charge of molesting a 7-year-old girl but it has been told that a warrant was issued for Feliciano’s arrest on a charge that would have prevented him from working around children. The legal charge explains the elements of the offenses that prosecutors must prove beyond a reasonable doubt. For a passion/provocation manslaughter defense to be accepted, jurors have to believe that Feliciano was adequately provoked with more than just words and that he did not have the chance to cool off from the provocation. On the witness stand for eight days at his trial, Feliciano gave varying accounts of the sexual abuse he said he endured from Hinds, prompting Bianchi to frequently accuse him of lying and spinning new versions of events. If convicted of murder, Feliciano faces life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 30 years. Manslaughter carries a punishment of up to 10 years. Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@njpressmedia.com
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