Man Convicted of Killing Chatham Priest to Be Sentenced in March

By Peggy Wright
Daily Record
February 3, 2012

http://www.dailyrecord.com/article/20120203/NJNEWS/302030009/Man-convicted-of-killing-Chatham-priest-to-be-sentenced-in-March

Jose Ramon Feliciano, the ex-church janitor found guilty in December of murdering the Rev. Edward Hinds in his rectory in Chatham in 2009, is slated to be sentenced on March 2.

The sentencing of the 66-year-old Feliciano, who had blamed the 61-year-old victim for provoking the fatal knife attack on Oct. 22, 2009, was not set when a Morris County jury declared him guilty of murder on Dec. 22. The March 2 date, however, could be postponed at the request of prosecutors or defense lawyers or based on changes in Superior Court Judge Thomas Manahan's schedule.

Feliciano is expected to be sentenced to life imprisonment.

A janitor at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church for 18 years as of October 2009, Feliciano was among a few people who discovered the priest dead on the kitchen floor of the rectory around 8 a.m. on Oct. 23, 2009, and he made half-hearted attempts to resuscitate him. Within hours and while Feliciano was being tended to for elevated blood pressure at Morristown Medical Center, investigators had begun accumulating evidence that linked Feliciano to the crime.

He ultimately confessed, alleging that he had confided in the priest that he had committed a crime years earlier against a child and wouldn't pass a background check. He claimed the priest took advantage of this information by sexually fondling him. The jury rejected his passion//provocation manslaughter defense. Prosecutors had argued that the priest learned of Feliciano's past on his own and planned to fire him.

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