Update: Defense Argues Prosecutors Solicited Confession with Promises of Assistance

Defense attorney Neill Hamilton argued in court Thursday that accused murderer Jose Feliciano confessed to stabbing Rev. Edward Hinds, of St. Patrick Church, only after the investigator promised assistance in his case.

The confession was given to Capt. Jeffrey Paul, of the Morris County Prosecutor's Office, on Oct. 24, 2009, one day after Hinds' body was found in the church rectory. At the time of the confession, Feliciano was a patient at Morristown Memorial Hospital, where he had been transported after trying to administer CPR to Hinds' body.

In a three-hour audiotape of Paul's interview with Feliciano, along with a videotape of the confession, Paul placed Feliciano under oath and explained his rights to him several times.

Paul told Feliciano that he had a friend, sometimes referred to as a cousin, who was also a patient in the hospital. The statement was a ruse, Paul said, to give a plausible explanation for checking his various electronic devices, which other investigators used to communicate with him during the interview.

On the tape, Paul told Feliciano that he needed to put his family "on the front burner now," and that things would go better for them if Feliciano talked to him.

Paul said he did speak to the church about Feliciano's daughter and encouraged them to minister to the 13-year-old, who was at that time a student at St. Patrick School.

Prosecutor John McNamara Jr. called Officer Daryle Kelly, of the Chatham Borough Police Department, to the stand. Kelly was the first officer to enter the rectory after the 911 call was placed. He testified that he saw Feliciano kneeling over Hinds' body trying to administer CPR, but when he felt for a pulse, the body was cold.

The defense offered no witnesses for their case that the confession was given unwillingly. Manahan scheduled another court date for Feb. 17, at which point he said he would hear any further oral arguments.

In a videotaped interview with investigators, Feliciano gave his account of the events that led to the stabbing of Hinds.

"I grabbed a knife and I told him to stay away," Feliciano said in the interview. "And I stab him, and I stabbed him, he held the knife and he pushed me. We just struggled and then I killed him. I killed him. And I'm sorry I did. I'm very sorry that I did. I had no right to do what I did."

The videotape was played as part of a pre-trial hearing to determine if the confession to prosecutors was given willingly and should be allowed to be presented at trial. The remainder of a three-hour audiotaped confession, , was also presented as evidence.

According to the tapes, Feliciano told Paul that he went to the rectory at Hinds' request. Feliciano was employed as a custodian at St. Patrick Church and School for 18 years.

Feliciano said that Hinds had given him counseling regarding abuse he had suffered as a child between the ages of 8 and 10 by another Catholic priest. The counseling began five years before Hinds' death, Feliciano said.

About a year later, Feliciano said in the video, Hinds approached him about the possibility of him losing his job. Then, he said, motioning over his body with his hands, "he started touching me all over ... He started touching my privacy, and I did not like the idea of him touching my privacy, but he remind me about my employment."

Feliciano said that when he came to the rectory on the day of Hinds' death, he told the priest he wanted the relationship to end. "He told me he would have to let me go," Feliciano said.

"I was leaving and he started to grab me and I pushed him," he said, "and we started pushing each other, and that's when I grabbed I knife."

Feliciano later told Paul that he left the rectory to get the knife, which was in the parish center. "I left and came back with the knife," he said. "I made a decision. I brought the knife and I showed it to him."

The two then struggled and Feliciano said, "He [sic] was holding each other and I just stabbed him one time and he held me and he threw me back, he grabbed me, the knife fell, he grabbed it and I grabbed it again."

Hinds was stabbed 32 times in the head and torso. He managed to call 911 from his cell phone, but did not speak. The operator called Hinds' phone back twice more. "I grabbed the phone, and then they called back and I said nobody called," Feliciano said in the video.

"I didn't believe it. When he fell, I said, 'oh gosh, he's dead,'" Feliciano said.

Feliciano said he cleaned the knife and his shoes in the rectory bathroom, and took the knife and the cell phone with him. He told his wife he had been painting and sat in the back of the car as they traveled to their home in Easton, Pa., where he showered and washed the jacket he had worn. He put the knife and cell phone in a bag and threw the bag away when he took the dog for a walk.

Paul asked, "You wanted to get rid of the blood and some of the evidence, right?"

Feliciano answered, "Yeah, I didn't want it to be there."

Later in the video he said, "I know I was gonna get caught."

Feliciano was placed under oath on camera and told Paul that he understood his rights and was willing to speak to him without an attorney present.