A janitor who confessed to stabbing a New Jersey priest to death last week had been trying to cover up a two-decade-old arrest warrant by using fake names and identification, a prosecutor said yesterday in requesting the man’s bail remain at $1 million.
Judge Thomas Manahan agreed to the request but changed José Feliciano’s bail from cash, bond or property to cash only. Feliciano has been held on murder and weapon charges since last Friday, when the body of the 61-year-old Rev. Edward Hinds was discovered on the floor of the rectory kitchen at St. Patrick Catholic Church in Chatham.
Hinds was stabbed 32 times. Feliciano worked at the church for 17 years.
Yesterday marked Feliciano’s first court appearance, and the 64-year-old, shackled and in olive prison garb, looked at the ground as he entered and exited.
He did not speak during the hearing, instead nodding his assent when Manahan asked whether he understood the charges against him.
Assistant Morris County Prosecutor Leslie Wade told the judge that Feliciano confessed. Wade said Feliciano had an open arrest warrant from 1988 in Philadelphia that involved an alleged assault and “corruption of a minor” but added no details.
According to court documents, Hinds discussed firing Feliciano one day before his death.