Neulander`s Lawyer Grills Police

The defense attorney in the murder retrial of a rabbi accused of arranging the murder of his wife aggressively cross-examined police witnesses in the second day of testimony Tuesday.

Defense attorney Michael Riley grilled one officer about the handling of the crime scene on the night of Nov. 1, 1994, after Carol Neulander was found bludgeoned to death in her Cherry Hill home.

Prosecutors contend that her husband, Rabbi Fred Neulander, paid two men to kill her so that he could continue an affair with a Philadelphia radio personality. The former mistress, Elaine Soncini, was scheduled to testify Tuesday afternoon.

Soncini testified about the affair during Neulander's first trial last year. The Camden County jury in those proceedings could not reach a verdict after seven days of deliberations and a mistrial was declared.

The retrial was moved to Monmouth County by Superior Court Judge Linda Baxter in an attempt to seat jurors who had not seen as much media coverage of the case.

Detective Arthur Folks of the Camden County prosecutor's office testified Tuesday morning. A tape of an interview with the rabbi just hours after his wife's body was found was played for the jury.

Neulander denied any knowledge of the killing and also told Folks he never had an extramarital affair.

"Everything was kosher," Neulander said about his relationship with his wife.

As he did with a Cherry Hill police officer during testimony Monday, Riley used sarcasm as he acted with disbelief at some of Folks' answers during a contentious cross-examination.

"Maybe if I move closer," Riley said about Folks not understanding one question.

Riley focused on the handling of the crime scene, Folks' note taking during subsequent questioning of Neulander and about the possibility that Len Jenoff, one of the men who admitted killing Carol Neulander, had been in the house the week before her death.

Jenoff, a private investigator and friend of Rabbi Neulander, pleaded guilty along with a second man, Paul Daniels, to aggravated manslaughter. Jenoff testified in the last trial that Neulander hired them to carry out the killing.

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