Neulander Lawyers Try to Corner Jenoff

CAMDEN, N.J. – October 24, The man who confessed to killing Carol Neulander at the behest of her husband, a Cherry Hill rabbi, told jurors Tuesday that he was not pushed into confessing by a newspaper reporter.

Len Jenoff was on the witness stand for the third day in the capital murder trial of Rabbi Fred Neulander, 60, accused of arranging the slaying on Nov. 1, 1994.

If he's convicted, Neulander could face the death penalty.

In their questioning, Neulander's lawyers have attempted to attack the credibility and motivation of Jenoff, the star witness for the prosecution.

They tried to establish that Jenoff could have taken some of his accounts from many media reports on the killing.

They called him on lies – from those included in his resume to those he's admitted he told a grand jury investigating the killing in 1997.

And on Tuesday, lawyer Dennis Wixted suggested Jenoff confessed his role in part because Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Nancy Phillips told him doing so would make Jenoff a hero.

Jenoff told the jury of nine women and six men that wasn't why he confessed on April 28, 2000. Jenoff said that in retrospect it may have been a better idea to take his lawyer, Francis Hartman, to the confession, instead of Phillips. But it would not have changed his action, he said.

"Regardless of what Mr. Hartman had said that day, I had to confess," Jenoff said.

He said Phillips had provided him with Camden County Prosecutor Lee Solomon's direct phone number.

Phillips began interviewing Jenoff in the months after Mrs. Neulander was found slain in her home. Jenoff said he had a crush on the reporter, though their relationship was professional.

Phillips has also described the relationship as professional. If she's called to testify, questions would have to be confined to the veracity of her reports – not her methods or her relationship with Jenoff.

Jenoff said he initially misled Phillips, telling lies about the case in order to make Neulander look innocent.

Initially, Jenoff worked for Neulander under the guise of being an investigator trying to discover who killed Mrs. Neulander.

He testified that he hired a psychic who drew a suspect in the case, suggested possible suspects to authorities and took photographs of "suspects" at Classic Cake Co. in Voorhees, where Mrs. Neulander worked.

All of those efforts, he testified, were a farce and payments he received for them were really part of the $30,000 Neulander promised him for the killing.

Over five years, he said, he came to see Phillips as a sister and started telling fewer lies and more truths.

Jenoff, 56, said Phillips encouraged him to go to authorities with what he knew and that it would make him a hero.

"She said that, but I didn't believe her," Jenoff said. "Admitting to a murder would make me a hero? I don't think so."

He said he finally could not live with what he'd done.

So on April 27, 2000, he called Solomon's direct line. There was no answer.

The next day, after a lunch with Phillips, he had her call Solomon to set up a meeting. Late that afternoon, Solomon, an investigator and Phillips were in an Audubon diner as Jenoff told his story.

But he said that initially, it was full of lies.

"I was trying to confess," he said, "but at the same time, I was trying to minimize my participation."

Days later Jenoff admitted he not only helped set up the murder, but also hit Mrs. Neulander with a lead pipe.

Jenoff and an associate, Paul M. Daniels, 27, both pleaded guilty last year to aggravated manslaughter and are in the Camden County Jail awaiting sentencing. Daniels may be called as a witness in Neulander's trial.

During cross-examination Wixted pointed out some of Jenoff's lies, including those that came on several occasions under oath when he claimed to have been an agent in the CIA.

"Wouldn't it be fair to say that as you think about things, you're version gets better and better for the state?" Wixted asked.

"No sir," Jenoff replied.

Wixted: "You've sworn to God a lot of times and not told the truth, haven't you?"

Jenoff: "I'm telling the truth today."

Jenoff was expected to return to the witness stand for more cross-examination Wednesday.

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

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News