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By MIKE DANIELS
Courier-Post Staff
FREEHOLD
The murder-for-hire retrial of Rabbi Fred J. Neulander took a bizarre turn Thursday when another Camden County homicide became the topic of fierce debate.
Defense attorney Michael Riley announced he wants to question Leonard Jenoff, the prosecution's star witness, about the 1995 stabbing death of Voorhees mother Janice Bell when he takes the stand. Jenoff has confessed to being the hit man Neulander hired to kill the rabbi's wife, Carol, inside their Cherry Hill home eight years ago today.
But in a new revelation, an inmate who once shared a cellblock with Jenoff says the hit man also confessed to him privately about committing the Bell murder. Riley divulged that allegation publicly for the first time Thursday in an all-day hearing held outside the jury's presence, in which he also outlined other links between Bell and Jenoff.
The surprise turn of events has angered the prosecutor, caused testimony to be suspended for two days, and introduced a fascinating twist to one of South Jersey's most infamous murder mysteries.
If Superior Court Judge Linda G. Baxter allows the line of questioning, Riley hopes to further damage the credibility of Jenoff, an admitted liar. Baxter said she'll rule on the issue this morning before jurors return to the courtroom at 9 a.m. All testimony scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday was canceled after the Bell issue arose.
During Thursday's hearing, Baxter heard testimony from a parade of witnesses, including the inmate and one of Neulander's former attorneys.
David Beardsley, who spent time with Jenoff at Camden County Jail in May 2000, testified Jenoff bragged to him about two other murders he committed in addition to the bludgeoning of Carol Neulander. One of them was the Dec. 7, 1995, slaying of 33-year-old Bell inside her home, Beardsley said. Her murder remains unsolved.
Jenoff also stated he killed a boy in Baltimore several years ago during a botched robbery attempt, Beardsley said.
Jenoff "offered the information to me as a badge that `this is what I've done' type of thing, as a resume more or less, if you want to put it that way," said Beardsley, who's serving a 20-year sentence for sexually assaulting a 13- year-old girl.
Beardsley also testified that a Camden County assistant prosecutor, John Wynne, ordered him to stay out of the Neulander case or face a longer sentence for his sexual assault.
Wynne also testified Thursday, saying he never threatened the inmate - or even spoke to him about the Neulander case - during Beardsley's sentencing in 2000.
In another odd twist, Thursday's hearing provided a rematch of sorts between Camden County First Assistant Prosecutor James Lynch and one of the rabbi's defense lawyers in last year's trial, Jeffrey Zucker. The first case ended with jurors deadlocked 9-3 in favor of convicting the rabbi, forcing the new trial that began here last week.
Lynch hammered Zucker about why he never turned over to prosecutors a copy of his private investigator's written summary of comments Beardsley made during an interview Aug. 21, 2001. Lynch said failing to share that information violates state laws that require lawyers to reveal all evidence to their opponents.
"Scurrilous, unprofessional, unwarranted," Lynch said, describing Zucker's failure to disclose Beardsley's statements until now. "The conduct of prior counsel is an outrage."
Zucker testified that he believed he had turned over private investigator Willard Brown's one-page interview summary, but couldn't be sure. If his office failed to give the document to Lynch, he said, that wasn't intentional.
"I thought it had been provided ... if it wasn't, it was just an oversight or an error," Zucker said. "There would be no reason to withhold it. It's to our benefit, not our detriment."
Zucker never questioned Jenoff or Beardsley about the Bell murder during last year's trial in Camden, when the inmate testified that Jenoff admitted to framing the rabbi in Carol Neulander's death. In fact, Bell's murder never came up during the trial.
Riley said the possible Bell link was new to him, too. He said he only learned Monday of Beardsley's statements about Jenoff's role in that murder.
Riley's private investigator, Drew Smith, took the stand and testified Beardsley told him Monday what Jenoff said about the other killings.
Offering a specific detail about the Bell murder, Beardsley stated Jenoff was worried about skid marks he may have left in Bell's Woodbrook Road driveway when fleeing the crime scene, Smith said.
Riley showed the judge photos of what he said were tire marks in the driveway and explained how he could use them against Jenoff if he denies carrying out Bell's murder.
"If he denies it, I can offer evidence to rebut those denials," Riley said. "Whether or not he committed the murder of Miss Bell goes to his credibility."
Jenoff had left the skid marks after he picked up an associate who actually entered the house and killed Bell during a robbery, Beardsley said.
Beardsley said he assumed that associate was Paul Michael Daniels, even though Jenoff never named the associate. Daniels has pleaded to aggravated manslaughter in the Neulander case, admitting he helped Jenoff kill the rabbi's wife inside her Highgate Lane home, and is expected to testify for the prosecution.
To further show the two slayings could be related, Riley laid out a pair of strange connections between Jenoff and the Bell family:
•In August 1995, Jenoff showed up at a custody proceeding in Camden and asked Bell's sister-in-law Marge Bell several questions about the family, specifically about Janice Bell.
•In March 1996, the Bell family paid $150 to Jenoff, who was a private investigator, for helping set them up with a psychic in hopes of catching Bell's killer. Jenoff had approached them sometime after the murder about working for the family, Riley said.
Riley theorizes Jenoff had some knowledge about Bell that made him want to rob her. And in the Neulander case, he contends Jenoff wasn't hired as a hit man, but instead was motivated to attack the rabbi's wife so he could rob her of thousands of dollars in receipts from her successful cake business.
In another odd revelation, Zucker said he first learned of Jenoff's possible involvement in the Bell slaying not from Beardsley, but from a potential juror in the first trial. That juror, a police dispatcher, indicated in a pretrial questionnaire that she was aware Jenoff was a suspect in the Bell murder. After the revelation, Zucker said, an attorney from his office was eventually permitted to review the Bell case file at the prosecutor's office.
Riley also said he wondered whether Jenoff thought he was a suspect in the Bell murder when he pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter in the Neulander case in May 2000.
"Did Jenoff fashion his story to deal with his potential exposure on the Bell homicide?" Riley asked during the hearing. "The question is, at the time he entered his plea, what was his knowledge that the Bell investigation was ongoing?"
Lynch, meanwhile, tried to attack Beardsley's credibility during the inmate's feisty testimony Thursday. He repeatedly asked Beardsley why he never attempted to contact Baltimore authorities about the boy's murder he claims Jenoff confessed to committing.
And Lynch also badgered Beardsley about the name of the person who Jenoff had said he killed in Voorhees. Several times during his testimony, Beardsley said Jenoff identified the victim as "Karen Bell."
At one point during Lynch's cross-examination, Beardsley said he didn't want to answer any more questions without his lawyer present. Baxter said that was her decision to make, and ordered him to answer Lynch's questions.
"I came here voluntarily telling the truth," Beardsley told Lynch. "You're trying to put me up in the newspapers as some kind of jailhouse snitch. ... What are you trying to do, get me killed in jail so I can't come here?"
He also accused Lynch of trying to make a joke of his testimony.
And, Beardsley said, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office is corrupt. "I think there should be a state investigation of that office," he said.
Prosecutors say the rabbi, 61, hired Jenoff to kill his wife of 29 years so he could continue an affair with former Philadelphia radio host Elaine Soncini. The rabbi has steadfastly maintained his innocence, although he admitted to extramarital flings when he took the stand last year.
He's charged with capital murder, felony murder and conspiracy, and could be sentenced to death if convicted of all charges. His retrial was moved to Monmouth County because of vast media attention.
The Associated Press also contributed to this report. Reach Mike Daniels at (856) 486-2457 or mdaniels@courierpostonline.com
