A judge is reviewing the confessions of a married janitor from Pennsylvania who said he killed a New Jersey priest because the cleric threatened to fire him if he ended their sexual relationship.
Prosecutors say 65-year-old Jose Feliciano made up the story to hide his real motive for killing the Rev. Edward Hinds in the St. Patrick's Church rectory in Chatham in October 2009.
Feliciano confessed to stabbing Hinds more than thirty times with a kitchen knife.
As part of his taped confession, the janitor claimed that he was a victim of childhood sexual abuse by a priest in Brooklyn, according to The Daily Record of Parsippany.
Feliciano said he allowed Hinds, in whom he confided, to touch him for four years because the priest used the janitor's job as leverage, the article explains.
But prosecutors say the priest was preparing to fire Feliciano after learning the janitor had been charged in 1988 with sexually touching a child.
Local
Breaking news and the stories that matter to your neighborhood.
Police had tracked the priest's missing cell phone and learned it was discarded in a park by Feliciano's home in Easton, Pa. The priest had called 9-1-1 while he was being attacked.
The Daily Record of Parsippany reports the judge has to decide whether the Feliciano's rights were violated.
