By MICHAEL T. BURKHART
Courier-Post Staff
FREEHOLD
The highly anticipated hearing to decide whether Cherry Hill rabbi Fred J. Neulander should be executed almost ended before it started Thursday afternoon.
A visibly angry Superior Court Judge Linda G. Baxter announced that broadcast media representatives contacted some jurors Wednesday night in a move that could have put the entire penalty phase in jeopardy.
After reporters, family and the general public were kicked out of the Monmouth County courtroom, Baxter and lawyers for both sides questioned the 16 jurors individually. The closed-door discussions were an attempt to find out who contacted them and whether those inquiries swayed their opinions.
Nearly 1 1/2 hours later, Baxter announced that representatives from ABC's Good Morning America contacted seven members of the jury that convicted Neulander of capital murder and related charges on Wednesday. However, those jurors refused to discuss the case.
Baxter and the attorneys indicated they were confident the panel wasn't tainted and gave the green light for the penalty phase to proceed. The delay meant the rabbi's highly anticipated appeal to jurors won't occur until this morning.
Baxter said she would take action against ABC, but didn't elaborate.
"Let this be a warning to ABC," she said.
The morning show's booking department obtains guests for Good Morning America.
"We're blessed to have an aggressive booking department, but in this case they got a little ahead of themselves," show spokeswoman Lisa Finkel said.
Jeffrey W. Schneider, vice president of ABC News, said the bookers weren't aware of the judge's order forbidding journalists from contacting jurors. They merely left messages, he said.
Baxter, who already has developed a reputation for treating uncooperative members of the media with a heavy hand, was livid when she took the bench Thursday afternoon before talking with jurors.
"This is an extremely serious matter, one which threatens to undermine the continuation of these proceedings," Baxter said. "It is an outrage frankly that the media has so little respect for this court of law."
The judge later suggested jurors screen their calls - either through an answering machine or a family member - until the end of the death penalty phase, which is likely to occur today.
The sensational nature of Neulander's crime - hiring two hit men to kill his wife in 1994 so he could continue a romantic relationship with a congregant - has long attracted attention. That publicity prompted Baxter to move the retrial from Camden to Freehold, a Monmouth County borough, so potential jurors would not be influenced by the Philadelphia media.
Baxter's outburst Thursday wasn't her first clash with media covering the high-profile case. In fact, it was reminiscent of a rebuke during last year's trial, which ended with a hung jury. That scolding from the bench occurred after Philadelphia Magazine writer Carol Saline crossed paths with a juror outside the courthouse and tried to strike up a conversation. Saline asked if the juror would be willing to talk for a story after a verdict was reached. The juror said no. Baxter harshly admonished Saline in public.
After the first trial ended, Baxter banned reporters from talking with members of the hung jury or identifying them in news stories. That prompted a challenge to the state Supreme Court - which partially overturned Baxter's order - and led to four newspaper reporters being cited for contempt of court. Their cases are under appeal.
Media timeline
Developments in the Neulander trial involving Superior Court Judge Linda G. Baxter and the media:
-- Nov. 9, 2001: In the midst of the rabbi's first trial, Philadelphia Magazine reporter Carol Saline runs into a juror outside the Camden County Hall of Justice. She asks the juror if he would be willing to speak with her after the verdict. Baxter later orders Saline to pay a $1,000 fine and gives her a 30-day suspended sentence for violating an order not to talk with jurors during the trial.
-- April 22, 2002: The state Supreme Court rules Baxter was correct to prohibit media from contacting jurors after they deadlocked in Neulander's first trial. However, the high court says another ruling by Baxter at the first trial's conclusion, forbidding the media from publishing or broadcasting the jurors' names or images, was an unfair restriction.
-- May 17, 2002: Baxter moves the retrial to Freehold, Monmouth County, in hopes the jury pool will be less tainted by past publicity of the case. She notes Mercer County is closer, but says she's concerned about the "highly sensational" coverage the trial would generate in a newspaper there - apparently The Trentonian tabloid.
-- June 20, 2002: Four reporters for The Philadelphia Inquirer, after being found guilty of contempt of court, are ordered to pay a total of $4,000 in fines and complete 15 days of physical labor for their role in a story about jurors in the first trial. They're found guilty of contacting jurors and naming some in a newspaper article that appeared under their bylines.
-- Thursday: An angry Baxter announces representatives of ABC's Good Morning America had called seven people on the Freehold jury; none responded to the inquiries. She determines the inquiries have not tainted the panel and says, "ABC should consider itself to be warned."
Staff writer Jim Walsh and The Associated Press contributed to this report. Reach Michael T. Burkhart at (856) 486-2474 or mburkhart@courierpostonline.com
