Rabbi Fred J. Neulander's life sentence was a fair punishment, one of the jurors who convicted him said Thursday.

"I definitely feel he got what he deserved. I think he's lucky he didn't get his life taken away," said Jeffrey Marks, 36, who served on the Monmouth County jury that found Neulander guilty Nov. 20 in Freehold.

Neulander, 61, was sentenced Thursday to life in state prison for hiring two hit men to kill his wife, Carol, in November 1994. He won't be eligible for parole until he is 88 years old.

Immediately following last year's retrial, Marks said he felt sorry for Neulander. But since then, he said, "I've changed my views."

Marks said he was surprised to read after the trial that the rabbi had several extramarital affairs and to read other quotes attributed to Neulander that the jury never heard.

In particular, Marks said, he was struck to hear about testimony from one of the rabbi's mistresses in the original trial. The woman, who didn't take the witness stand in the retrial, said that after mentioning to the rabbi that she passed Carol Neulander in traffic, he responded, "Why didn't you run her off the road?"

"Things like that," Marks said, "made me feel good that he was found guilty."

As for the hit men, Marks said he believes Leonard Jenoff murdered Carol just for money and knew what he was doing. He hopes Jenoff gets the same amount of prison time as Neulander. (The maximum Jenoff can get, when sentenced Jan. 30, is 30 years in prison.)

Marks said Jenoff's accomplice, Paul Michael Daniels, probably knew what he was doing but didn't have the sense to think about it.

"He should be in jail for a long time for what he did," said Marks.