The case had it all: a mysterious murder, a prominent suspect, an extramarital affair and even allegations of a hired killer. Everything but a verdict. After nearly 40 hours of deliberation over seven days, a Camden, N.J., jury could not decide whether to convict Fred Neulander, 60, the charismatic Cherry Hill, N.J., rabbi, of conspiring to kill his wife, Carol, 52, who was found bludgeoned to death in their home in November of 1994. "We did everything we possibly could," a juror told The Philadelphia Inquirer after Superior Court Judge Linda Baxter declared a mistrial on Nov. 13. "We all heard the same story, but we all saw it in a different way." According to published reports, the jury was tilted 9-3 in favor of a guilty verdict.
A key point of contention was the credibility of the prosecution's chief witness, Leonard Jenoff, 56, who testified that he and a friend killed the mother of three after the rabbi offered him $30,000. The defense, which portrayed Jenoff as a chronic liar who had falsely boasted of being a CIA agent, argued that Jenoff and Paul Michael Daniels, 27, killed Carol Neulander when they tried to rob her of money she had brought home from a bakery she ran. Neulander admitted in his testimony to having had an affair with a Philadelphia radio personality but denied that he wanted to end his marriage or had any involvement in his wife's death.
Prosecutors are eager to return to court, but a new trial could be months away. Neulander, whose bail request was denied, will remain at Camden County Correctional Facility, where he has been confined since his arrest in June 2000. Two of the Neulander children, Benjamin, 26, and Rebecca Rockoff, 31, attended the three-week trial. (Mathew, 28, is a doctor in North Carolina.) Afterward, Rebecca, who testified for the prosecution, thanked prosecutors. "We wouldn't have been able to go through this without them," she said. The two also met briefly with their father. "They got to hug him," says Jeffrey Zucker, Neulander's attorney. "They are in a very tough position."
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