Rabbi Fred Neulander, convicted of ordering the killing of his wife in 1994 and now serving a life term in prison.
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Key witness in Neulander murder case recants
It was one of the most notorious contract killings in the history of New Jersey.
And now, 15 years later, the hit man is changing his story.
Len Jenoff, a private investigator with a checkered past, says in a sworn affidavit signed this year that the 1994 bludgeoning of Carol Neulander was a robbery gone bad, and not a murder ordered and paid for by her husband, prominent Cherry Hill rabbi Fred Neulander.
"Fred Neulander never asked me to kill his wife, and to the best of my knowledge he never had any idea of any attempt on his wife's life," Jenoff said in a two-page affidavit dated Jan. 26.
The recantation is part of a post-conviction relief motion filed by Neulander's court-appointed lawyer, Patrick T. Cronin, that is winding its way through state Superior Court in Camden County. A hearing on a related issue was held Friday, but it could be months before the substantive issues are argued in open court.
The mere fact that Jenoff has changed his story is not enough to win Neulander a new trial.
In court documents filed this month, in fact, Assistant Camden County Prosecutor Robert K. Uyehara Jr. pointed out that recantations are "not uncommon" and that courts have held they are "inherently suspect."
Jenoff, 63, who is serving a 23-year sentence after pleading guilty to aggravated manslaughter and agreeing to cooperate with authorities, also alleges that prosecutors reneged on a "sweetheart deal" promising him a five-year sentence.
Authorities deny there was any such agreement.
The post-conviction relief motion may be Neulander's last chance at freedom. The once charismatic but now disgraced South Jersey religious leader has exhausted his legal appeals. The New Jersey Supreme Court declined to hear his case in 2007.
An inmate at the New Jersey State Prison in Trenton, Neulander, 67, is serving a life sentence with no parole eligibility for at least 20 more years.
The request for relief is based on two arguments.
The first is that Neulander's trial lawyer and his appellate lawyer were ineffective. The second is that Neulander was denied due process because authorities withheld the fact that Jenoff had been promised a light prison sentence for his testimony.
While hardly the final word, Jenoff's new story has provided yet another bizarre twist in one of the most sensational murder cases in state history.
And it has again brought his credibility into question.
The key prosecution witness at two trials - the first ended with a hung jury - Jenoff testified under oath that the rabbi had hired him to kill his wife, Carol, 52, so Neulander could be with a woman with whom he had been having an affair.
A onetime private investigator and recovering alcoholic who at various times claimed to have contacts with the CIA and the Israeli secret service, the Mossad, Jenoff withstood an assault on his character and truthfulness by defense attorneys at both trials.
In each case, they hammered away at his background, his fanciful boasts of political and governmental connections at the highest levels, and his motivations for testifying.
Through it all, Jenoff insisted he was telling the truth.
Now he's done an about-face.
