By Ben Horowitz
The Star-Ledger
December 21, 2011
http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2011/12/jury_in_trial_of_slain_chatham.html
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| Jose Feliciano looks on as attorneys talk to Judge Thomas Manahan. The jury in his trial is deliberating his fate. |
MORRISTOWN — The jury in Jose Feliciano's murder trial for the slaying of a Chatham priest resumed deliberations at noon today after receiving a copy it had requested of the judge's instructions.
The jury deliberated for four hours and failed to reach a verdict. It is to resume deliberations tomorrow at 9 a.m.
The jury in Superior Court in Morristown got the case Tuesday afternoon and had deliberated for just five minutes when it requested the 59 pages of instructions. The deliberations were put on hold while court staff produced a corrected copy of the judge's jury charge. Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi had objected to the original version, pointing out that it contained typos and Judge Thomas Manahan's oral instructions differed from the printed version.
The jury had been expected to convene at 11 a.m, but it was delayed when some jurors arrived late due to traffic tie-ups caused by the cleanup of Interstate 287 following Tuesday's plane crash in nearby Morris Township, court officials said.
With the late start, the jurors announced they would not to take a lunch break and plan to work through the afternoon, Manahan said.
Feliciano, a former church custodian, is charged with killing the Rev. Edward Hinds by taking a steak knife and stabbing the 61-year-old St. Patrick Church parish priest 44 times.
Feliciano is charged with both murder and felony murder, along with two counts of robbery, two weapons charges and one count of hindering his apprehension.
Feliciano has admitted the stabbing, but claims he was provoked. His public defender, Neill Hamilton, asked the jury to find him guilty on the lesser charge of passion/provocation manslaughter.
Feliciano claimed Hinds provoked him when he fired him less than five months before his planned retirement. Hinds had been blackmailing him for four years by forcing him to perform sex acts in exchange for keeping quiet three unresolved criminal charges he faced involving a minor in Philadelphia, Feliciano said.
The prosecution accused Feliciano of making up the sex stories and said he "purposely" murdered Hinds when the priest fired him after learning of the criminal charges about two weeks earlier.
Feliciano faces the felony murder charge for allegedly robbing Hinds' cell phone just after the priest managed to dial 911 for help, and get a few words out to a dispatcher.
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