Pervasive and intense publicity does not prevent selection of an impartial jury in Camden County for the capital murder trial of Rabbi Fred J. Neulander, the judge in the case ruled Wednesday.

In a 47-page opinion, which makes reference to almost every news article about the Nov. 1, 1994, bludgeoning death of Neulander's wife, Superior Court Presiding Criminal Judge Linda Baxter concluded that Neulander "has not been tried in the press."

"The atmosphere has not been so corrupted by publicity that jurors automatically cannot be trusted to lay aside their opinions," she wrote.

Almost every news account of the investigation, the subsequent arrest of Neulander and the confessions of two men who claimed last spring that they were hired by him to carry out the killing of Carol Neulander, included a reference that the rabbi pleaded not guilty and was vigorously defending himself, Baxter wrote.

The start of jury selection has been set tentatively for Sept. 10. In past capital cases in Camden County, jury selection has lasted about eight weeks.

Defense attorney Dennis Wixted and his law partner, Jeffrey Zucker, had asked to either choose out-of-county jurors or move the entire case to another county.

Wixted had no comment on the ruling. He said he had not had a chance to talk to his client about it.

James Lynch, Camden County's first assistant prosecutor, who will present the government's case against Neulander, is in the middle of jury selection for the retrial of admitted cop killer Leslie Nelson of Haddon Heights.

Lynch could not be reached for a comment on Baxter's ruling.

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