Lawyers Try to Ax Death Penalty

CAMDEN, N.J.: Lawyers for a Cherry Hill rabbi accused of arranging the murder of his wife are hoping a ruling on a case now before the state Supreme Court could end the possibility of the death penalty for their client. A hearing to set up a date for the retrial of Fred J. Neulander was put off Monday so the appeal could proceed.

Instead, a hearing on the death penalty issue was scheduled for Jan. 11 before Superior Court Judge Linda G. Baxter, who presided over the murder trial that ended last month in a hung jury.

Whatever Baxter decides, the case is likely to end up in the hands of the state Supreme Court, which has agreed to hear arguments in the case of Luis A. Cruz Jr., whose murder trial also ended in a hung jury last March.

Cruz is charged with the fatal stabbing and robbery of a Woolwich grocer in 1995.

Cruz's lawyers argue that if a jury cannot be unanimous on the question of guilt, then it cannot possibly impose the death penalty.

Neulander's lawyers, Dennis Wixted and Jeffrey Zucker, intend to make the same argument on behalf of their client.

Zucker said Monday that if the argument is successful, their client would have to be freed from jail on bail.

Neulander, 60, has been in jail for the 18 months since his case became a capital one.

He's accused of hiring two men to kill his wife, Carol, on Nov. 1, 1994, in the couple's home in an upscale neighborhood of Cherry Hill, a suburb just east of Philadelphia.

Neulander did not appear in court Monday because the scheduled hearing was scratched. His daughter, Rebecca Rockoff, 31, now a Connecticut resident, was in the courtroom, as she was for the entire trial in October and November.

A mistrial was declared Nov. 13 when the jury said it was deadlocked after more than 40 hours of deliberations.

It is unclear when a retrial will be scheduled _ or whether it will be moved out of Camden County.

The scheduling hinges on the Supreme Court's ruling in the Cruz case. Generally, that court issues opinions at least a few months after it hears arguments in a case. While it has agreed to hear the Cruz case, no date has been set.

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

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Author: 6 - ABC, Action News