Appeals Court Upholds Conviction, Life Sentence in Chatham Priest Murder

By Peggy Wright
Daily Recod
May 12, 2016

http://www.dailyrecord.com/story/news/crime/morris-county/2016/05/12/appeals-court-upholds-conviction-life-sentence-chatham-priest-murder/84280356/

The murder conviction and life sentence for a custodian who stabbed the Rev. Edward Hinds to death in 2009 in the rectory of St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham was upheld Thursday by a state appeals court.

Jose Ramon Feliciano, now 71 and incarcerated at New Jersey State Prison, had claimed after the Oct. 22, 2009 murder that he repeatedly stabbed the 61-year-old pastor to end unwanted sexual overtures. But the Morris County jury believed that Hinds had learned that the parish custodian was a fugitive for 21 years from a Pennsylvania allegation of improper conduct with a female child and intended to fire him.

The late Rev. Edward Hinds, who was murdered in Chatham in 2009. (Photo: Daily Record file photo)

The appellate court panel, in a 70-page decision released Thursday, rejected multiple claims of an unfair trial by Feliciano. He alleged that then-Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi, who tried the 28-day trial, made inflammatory and disparaging remarks about him, including that he was "narcissistic." Feliciano also unsuccessfully appealed use at trial of the criminal warrant from his past, and he argued that the state's use of two witnesses -- a pastoral psychotherapist and hospital mental health worker -- violated his rights to confidentiality but the appellate panel disagreed.

Jose Feliciano testifying at his trial in 2011 on a charge of murdering Rev. Edward Hinds in Chatham. (Photo: Daily Record file photo)

The panel found that introduction at trial of a 1988 arrest warrant that Feliciano had dodged for 21 years was essential to the jury's understanding of a motive.

"More importantly, as we have noted, reference to the warrant was proper to establish defendant's motive for killing Hinds, and to rebut the defense theory of passion/provocation arising from an alleged sexual relationship between defendant and Hinds," the appellate panel wrote.

The appellate court also rejected Feliciano's arguments about the significance of one juror failing to disclose that she and her husband were victims of a theft and that one of their children faced criminal charges.

Feliciano also unsuccessfully appealed the sentence he received in April 2012 of life in prison, with no possibility of parole, plus five years.

The appellate panel agreed that Bianchi may have overreached with some of his personal characterizations about Feliciano to the jury or his enthusiasm for state's witnesses but found the comments were not significant enough to warrant reversal of the conviction.

"We agree with defendant that some of the prosecutor's comments were unnecessary and exceeded the boundaries of permissible advocacy," the appeals court wrote. "However, in this case, given the length of the opening argument and the ensuing trial, we do not find these isolated comments about the state's witnesses or evidence substantially prejudiced defendant's right to a fair trial. The prosecutor did not suggest any personal knowledge outside of the record, but instead referred repeatedly to the evidence that he would present at trial."

"We conclude that, when viewed in the context of the lengthy proceedings, these remarks (by the prosecutor) did not deprive defendant of a fair trial. Contrary to defendant's assertion, they were a fair comment on the overwhelming amount of evidence produced at trial," the appeals court wrote.

The body of the priest was found in the rectory early on Oct. 23, 2009 and Feliciano, who had arrived for his custodian's job, made an emotional show of wailing over the priest and trying for a few seconds to perform CPR. Within hours, he was a suspect because the priest's cell phone -- stolen from the rectory in Chatham -- was found to be emitting a signal from a field near Feliciano's home in Easton, Pa.

Feliciano, who was briefly hospitalized because he felt ill after Hinds' body was discovered, confessed to then-Prosecutor's Office Capt. Jeffrey Paul. The jury heard most of the confession, during which Feliciano claimed he "lost it" and stabbed the priest. He claimed he told the priest he wanted to end their sexual encounters and Hinds told him he would be fired. Feliciano himself testified for eight days at trial.

But at trial, Bianchi had introduced a diary with notations by Hinds that indicated he meant to fire Feliciano as of Oct. 23, 2009. A church worker also testified that she found financial records that showed the priest had hired an investigative firm in 2009 to check out Feliciano's past and that Hinds told her he believed there were secrets in Feliciano's past that he intended to find out. The priest's investigation was preceded by his discovery that Feliciano, in violation of a church mandate known as Protecting God's Children, had never been fingerprinted though he worked around children at St. Patrick's School and church.

At sentencing, Bianchi had said of Feliciano: "He murdered the man and then he set out to murder his reputation." The appeal was argued on behalf of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office by senior Assistant Prosecutor John McNamara Jr.

In all, Feliciano was convicted of murder, felony murder, robbing the priest of his cellphone, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, unlawful possession of a weapon and hindering apprehension.

Staff Writer Peggy Wright: 973-267-1142; pwright@GannettNJ.com