Jurors At a Standstill

CAMDEN, N.J. Jurors in the murder-for-hire trial of Cherry Hill Rabbi Fred J. Neulander said Thursday they had reached "a standstill" in their deliberations.

Judge Linda G. Baxter said she and the lawyers in the case would discuss the situation Friday morning and give the jury further instructions then.

She asked the forewoman of the six-man, six-woman jury whether they were deadlocked on all three charges against Neulander. The forewoman said they were.

The jury sent a note to Baxter around 4:20 p.m., near the end of their fourth full day of deliberations.

It read, in part: "We the jury have come to the point of our deliberations where we have come to a complete standstill. ... We don't anticipate any changes."

Earlier Thursday, the jurors asked for extensive readbacks of witness testimony. The received readbacks of complete testimony of five witnesses and partial testimony of confessed hitman and key prosecution witness Len Jenoff. They asked that the readbacks be done outside the purview of the media, saying they did not want media speculation about where they stand in their deliberations. But Baxter ruled that the testimony would be read back in open court.

Neulander, 60, is charged with arranging the Nov. 1, 1994, slaying of his wife, Carol, so that he could continue an affair with a Philadelphia radio show host. If he is convicted of the most serious charges, Neulander could face the death penalty.

The readback began with the testimony of Matthew Neulander, the rabbi's son, a prosecution witness. He told of a fight his parents had two nights before Mrs. Neulander was slain and described his father as not being appropriately responsive after the killing.

The jury also had a part of Jenoff's testimony read back concerning why he did not record conversations with Neulander about the killing after it happened.

Jurors also received readbacks of testimony from four other witnesses: Richard Plum, who had lived with Jenoff and the other confessed hitman, Paul Michael Daniels; Nancy Phillips, a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter to whom Jenoff initially confessed; George Stukenbroeker, an FBI agent with whom Jenoff had frequent conversations in 1994; and David A. Stefankiewicz, a Wildwood lawyer who said Jenoff confessed to him in April 2000.

The readback requests came shortly after the jury began its fifth day of deliberations in the case. Through Wednesday, the jurors had deliberated for nearly 24 hours.

Their only previous question to the judge was on Friday when they asked _ after less than half a day of deliberating _ what would happen if they could not reach a unanimous verdict. The judge said the question was premature and directed them to resume their deliberations.

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

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Author: 6 ABC - Action News