Neulander Case - Conflicting Testimonies

Camden, NJ: The two men who confessed to killing of the wife of a Cherry Hill rabbi have offered different details of the night it happened in their testimony at the rabbi's murder trial. Paul Michael Daniels, 27, who testified Thursday in the trial of Fred J. Neulander, said he struck Mrs. Neulander only twice.

In previous testimony, the other man, Len Jenoff, 56, said he struck the woman only once. But a medical examiner testified last week that the woman was hit at least 12 times with a blunt object.

Daniels also said he and Jenoff both had metal pipes. Jenoff said they used the same one.

Carol Neulander, 52, was killed in her home on Nov. 1, 1994. Fred Neulander, now 60, is charged with arranging the killing so he could carry on an affair with Elaine Soncini, who was then a Philadelphia radio host. He could face the death penalty if convicted. The state rested its case Thursday after less than eight full days of testimony. Neulander's lawyers are scheduled to start calling witnesses Monday. They have said Neulander will testify. At the time of the slaying, Daniels was 20 years old and had already been through two treatment programs for his problems with alcohol, heroin and cocaine - and had relapsed.

He was sharing a Cherry Hill apartment with Jenoff and another man. The three had met at a halfway house for addicts.

Daniels said he has since been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and paranoid schizophrenia. He said he was on three prescription drugs as he testified, including one for "the voices" he hears.

Neulander's attorney, Dennis Wixted, tried to establish that Daniels only knew of Neulander's alleged role in the killing through what Jenoff told him. But Daniels said that wasn't the case.

Daniels said he went with Jenoff to Congregation M'kor Shalom after Mrs. Neulander was killed. There, he said, Neulander hugged him and asked if he was OK.

"I asked him if he was OK," Daniels said. "And he said, `Yeah."'

"You take that to mean he was admitting he was involved?" Wixted asked.

"I think so," Daniels said.

Daniels said he agreed to help with the killing for the money. He said he was concerned that the task involved taking another life. It made him hesitate "for a minute or two," he said.

Jenoff gave him a total of $7,500 before and after the killing, Daniels said. The first installment came before the slaying when Jenoff dumped a bag full of cash over his head. He said he spent the money on "girls, clothes, drugs."

After Jenoff confessed last year, both men pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter. Daniels also pleaded guilty to robbery.

Jurors also heard testimony Thursday from Robin Gross Rapport, who said she also had an affair with Neulander, then her rabbi at Congregation M'kor Shalom, between 1992 and 1994.

She recalled that she once told him that she had passed Mrs. Neulander on the highway, and the rabbi responded: "Why didn't you run her off the road?"

The final witness called by Camden County First Assistant Prosecutor James Lynch was Mrs. Neulander's sister, Margaret Miele. She said that the day after the slaying, Fred Neulander did not seem to be grieving.

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Zucker asked whether it is possible that people grieve in different ways.

Miele said they do - and she knows something about it because she has worked for 30 years as a medical social worker.

"I think I have a pretty good sense of people's reactions," she said. "I found Fred's unusual."

Also Thursday morning, Judge Linda G. Baxter excused a juror for "personal circumstances." It was the second such dismissal. Of the seven men and seven women who remain, two will be named alternates and the other 12 will deliberate the case.

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

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Author: 6 - ABC, Action News