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By MICHAEL T. BURKHART
Courier-Post Staff
CAMDEN
The hit men who carried out Rabbi Fred J. Neulander's murderous plan to end his troubled marriage apologized Thursday to the victim's family.
For their parts in the brutal killing of Carol Neulander, Leonard Jenoff and Paul Michael Daniels were each sentenced to 23 years in state prison. The pair, who confessed their roles in the slaying, were instrumental in helping prosecutors convict the Cherry Hill rabbi of murder.
With credit for time already served, they could be eligible for parole in as little as 7 1/2 years.
Nearly breaking down in tears, Jenoff, 57, said he takes responsibility for his actions on the night of Nov. 1, 1994, when he and Daniels beat Carol Neulander to death with a pipe. In testimony, Jenoff said Neulander promised to pay him $30,000 for the murder.
"I'm so sorry for what I did, your honor," said Jenoff, dressed in an orange Camden County prison jumpsuit, his legs and hands shackled. "I hope I can have another chance at life. Regardless of what you sentence me to, for the rest of my life I will live with this guilt and this shame."
Neulander, former senior rabbi at Congregation M'kor Shalom in Cherry Hill, was convicted of capital murder Nov. 20 by a Monmouth County jury.
Jenoff and Daniels testified at both of Neulander's murder-for-hire trials. The first trial, in fall 2001, ended with a deadlocked jury. The retrial was held last year in Freehold.
The Camden County Prosecutor's Office said Neulander wanted his wife of 29 years dead so he could continue an affair with Elaine Soncini, a former Philadelphia radio host. Carol Neulander, 52, was the founder of Classic Cake Co., a successful Camden County bakery.
Two weeks ago, Baxter sentenced the rabbi to life in prison with no chance of parole for 30 years. In his address to the court, the 61-year-old Neulander once again proclaimed his innocence.
Daniels and Jenoff pleaded guilty in 2000 to aggravated manslaughter. Daniels also pleaded guilty to robbery, because he stole Carol Neulander's purse after the attack in her Highgate Lane home on Cherry Hill's east side.
Carol Neulander's family, as well as the couple's three children, asked Superior Court Judge Linda G. Baxter to impose the maximum sentences for the hit men.
Jenoff could have received 30 years in prison with no chance of parole for 15 years. Daniels faced a possible 50 years with no parole for 25.
But Baxter said they deserved a break because the rabbi might never have been convicted without their cooperation.
For the robbery charge, Daniels, 28, received a 20-year sentence, but he'll serve that at the same time he's in prison for the manslaughter charge.
After the sentencing, Edward Lidz, Carol Neulander's older brother, said the family was satisfied with the sentences.
"There was never any question the person we really wanted to be held the most responsible and to get the most punishment was Fred," Lidz said. "He's the one who instigated the whole thing."
Jenoff said Neulander was once a close friend.
"For several years I worshipped that man," Jenoff said. " Now I loathe and pity him."
First Assistant Camden County Prosecutor James Lynch did not request a specific sentence for the hit men. He noted the extent of their cooperation and Jenoff's decision to come forward in March 2000 even though he wasn't a suspect. Jenoff later implicated Daniels.
Baxter noted that, in her 11 years as a judge, she hasn' t seen anyone cooperate as fully as Jenoff did.
"The cooperation provided by you exceeds in nature, scope and quality any cooperation I have ever seen or heard of," Baxter said.
Still, during the sentencing proceeding, Lidz and the Neulander children said Jenoff and Daniels are killers who should be put away for the maximum terms. In a victim impact statement from the Neulander children, Benjamin Neulander - the couple's youngest child - joined siblings Rebecca and Matthew in asking for a harsh prison sentence.
During the penalty phase of the rabbi's trial, when the death penalty was at stake, Benjamin Neulander had asked jurors to spare his father's life. He did not submit an impact statement for his father's sentencing, although he was in the courtroom.
"On the night of Nov. 1, 1994, after much thought and planning, these monsters walked into our home and savagely and brutally beat our mother over the head with metal pipes and left her there to die," the children said in a written statement read into the court record Thursday. "These two individuals have already received leniency from the state of New Jersey in ... their plea agreement. We ask that Your Honor extend them no further consideration now at the time of sentencing."
They said Jenoff and Daniels had the opportunity to stop the plot but did not.
"Either they disregard the difference between right and wrong, or, when faced with such decisions, they put their own financial well-being above the life of another human," said the children, who did not attend Thursday's sentencing. "In either case, they are exactly the kind of individuals that the court should remove from society for as long as the law allows."
Lidz said no one forced Jenoff and Daniels to kill. They did it for money, he said.
"Certainly I appreciate Jenoff's cooperation that made the case against (Neulander) complete and led to the guilty verdict in November," Lidz said. "However, it cannot be ignored that he was a calculating murderer who killed Carol in the most brutal manner."
When prosecutors were preparing to try Neulander for the crime in 2000, they had a murder-for-hire case but couldn't identify a hit man. That's when Jenoff came forward and revealed he and Daniels, who were former roommates, carried out the killing because Neulander promised them $30,000.
Although his confession solved the case, Jenoff had a a problem when it came to the trials: He has a long history of telling lies. The private investigator and recovering alcoholic often told people he had worked for the CIA and he would show them an autographed picture of President Reagan. The career was a fabrication, the autograph a crude counterfeit.
In each trial, Neulander's lawyers focused on Jenoff's past in attacking his credibility.
That made the corroborating testimony of other witnesses, including Daniels, especially crucial.
Daniels, who had had a history of mental, drug and alcohol problems, met Jenoff in a halfway house for recovering addicts.
Jenoff became a father figure to Daniels, who called him "Uncle Lenny." Eventually, they shared an apartment in Cherry Hill.
"Len Jenoff is not only responsible for the death of Carol Neulander, he is responsible for the destruction of Paul Daniels as well," said Daniels' attorney, Craig Mitnick. "His trust in Jenoff was tragically misplaced."
Daniels spoke only briefly at the sentencing, telling the victim's family that he wasn't himself the night of the murder.
"I just want to apologize to Carol Neulander's family," Daniels said as his teary-eyed mother sat in the courtroom. "It wasn't me at the time. I was on drugs. I was on the stuff. I didn't mean to hurt their family in any way."
While Daniels has mental problems, those issues were no defense for murder, Baxter said. She added that he could have gone to authorities to report Jenoff and Neulander.
And even though he was manipulated by Jenoff, he acted because of the promise of cash, Baxter said.
Jenoff's attorney, Frank Hartman, asked Baxter to request that his client be sent to Riverfront State Prison in Camden. The judge said she would make no recommendation.
After sentencing, Lynch and Camden County Prosecutor Vincent P. Sarubbi said the state was satisfied with Baxter' s sentence.
"We feel their sentence was appropriate under the circumstances," Sarubbi said.
Added Lynch: "The sentence is substantial. This represents the end of a very long, difficult and uncertain road that was traveled by this prosecution."
The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reach Michael T. Burkhart at (856) 486-2474 or mburkhart@courierpostonline.com
