Church Janitor Found Guilty of 2009 Priest Slaying
Two years after the death of Rev. Edward Hinds, a former church janitor has been found guilty of his murder but insists he was provoked.
Jose Feliciano, 66, of Easton Pa., had worked as a janitor at Hinds' St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church in Chatham, N.J. since 1991.
He was found guilty of stabbing Hinds, 61, more than 30 times after learning he was losing his job and became enraged, according to Mail Online.
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It is believed that Feliciano had an outstanding arrest warrant for child molestation charges dating back to the 1980s that the church was unaware of.
After he discovered Feliciano's warrant, Hinds fired him on the spot, which allegedly provoked the attack.
Feliciano approached Hinds in October 2009 while the priest was making coffee in the church rectory and brutally stabbed him repeatedly.
Lawyers for Feliciano argued that the former janitor stabbed Hinds to death after the priest presented him with sexual blackmail.
They argued that Hinds had insisted he would turn a blind eye to the warrant in exchange for sexual favors, leaving Feliciano furious.
Prosecutors countered that Feliciano was practically a fugitive who used false identification to conceal his dark past and flipped out when Hinds caught on.
Feliciano was found guilty of felony murder, two counts of robbery and two weapons counts.
“I am proud and honored to have been part of a process to vindicate Father Hinds’ murder and the slander of his reputation, which obviously the jury soundly did not believe,” Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi, who tried the case, said in a written statement.
Feliciano is expected to be sentenced in February and it is unclear whether he will appeal the verdict.
