Neulander Jury Selection In Final Phase

CAMDEN, N.J. The final stage of jury selection got under way Monday in a case that could send a member of the clergy to death row.

Legal experts said the fact that Fred J. Neulander is a rabbi may make him look better - or worse - to jurors who must decide whether he's guilty in a murder-for-hire case.

Neulander, 60, has pleaded innocent to charges that he arranged the death of his wife Carol, 52, who was found beaten to death at the couple's home in 1994.

Sixteen people had already been selected to hear the case, and lawyers worked Monday to make the final decision on which of the 16 would be the 12-member jury and which four would be alternates.

The rabbi, a longtime leader in the Jewish community, will testify in his own defense, said Dennis Wixted, one of the lawyers representing him. Robert Bloom, a Boston University law professor, said a clergy member might look more credible to jurors.

"I would probably be more inclined to put a clergy person on the stand," he said.

But Paul H. Robinson, a law professor at Northwestern University, said while Neulander may seem more credible, his clergy status could also work against him if jurors feel betrayed.

"There are expectations that come with being a member of the clergy," Robinson said.

Authorities say Neulander wanted his wife gone so he could continue an affair with Elaine Soncini, a popular radio host on WPEN-AM in Philadelphia.

A private detective who had insisted for years that Neulander was innocent confessed last year that he and another man fatally bludgeoned Carol Neulander.

Len Jenoff said the rabbi promised him $30,000 for the killing and made a partial payment. Jenoff, 56, and the other man pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter.

Neulander's lawyers are trying to show that he did not arrange for the killing and that the men who said they killed her did it on their own.

Neulander resigned as senior rabbi in February 1995 amid reports that he had been unfaithful. His attorney, Jeffrey Zucker, has said that his client is anxious to "get the matter behind him."

(Copyright 2001 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News