Priest Killed After Threatening to Fire Church Janitor for Child Abuse History, Trial Begins

A Pennsylvania man accused of killing a priest is set to start trial Thursday.

Jose Feliciano, 66, is facing life in prison if found guilty of the fatal stabbing of Rev. Edward Hinds in Chatam, New Jersey in October 2009.

Feliciano was the janitor at St. Patrick Roman Catholic Church and says he killed Hines because the priest threatened to fire him if he ended their homosexual relationship.

Prosecutors have said the claim is false and Feliciano fabricated the story because Hinds was going to fire him after learning the janitor had been charged in 1988 with sexually touching a child.

The janitor confessed to the killing the day after, according to a Daily News report. Police had suspected Feliciano from the beginning.

Feliciano faked shock when he saw Hinds' mutilated body and tried to resuscitate him before cops arrived at the scene.

"He gave a couple of compressions and then said, ‘There's nothing we can do,' which made police feel kind of suspicious," said Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi.

Cops say Hinds had wounds all over his body and was beaten before being stabbed 32 times.

Feliciano told investigators he cleaned up the blood with rags and towels. He took the evidence with him in a plastic bag.

Hinds was 61-years-old.