By BILL DUHART
Courier-Post Staff
CHERRY HILL
The jury of public opinion seemed to still be out Friday on Rabbi Fred Neulander, who faces a minimum of 30 years in prison for his wife's murder.
Some, like Maryann Costner, a legal secretary from Merchantville, thought Neulander got what he deserved.
"I'm not an advocate of the death penalty, as long as he stays in prison," said Costner as she loaded groceries into her car at the ShopRite at Garden State Pavilions.
"I wouldn't have pushed for the death penalty," said Marci Gitler, a Reform Jew from Cherry Hill.
She was not impressed with Neulander's speech Friday.
"He might have made it worse with his speech. He really came across as giving a sermon for others doing wrong rather than him doing any wrong," said Gitler.
Tom Folger, who lives with his wife, Linda, across the street from the Neulander home, thought justice was served.
When the verdict was returned Wednesday, the Folgers expressed their sentiments by putting up a sign in their yard that reads: "Justice at Last."
"When they came back with the guilty verdict, I thought ` justice at last' and I wanted the world to know," said Tom Folger, 60, a retired engineer.
Jeremie Pare, 23, a law student at Rutgers-Camden, said he thought the prison sentence was fair.
"He got 30 years. He's going to be dead before then anyway," Pare said.
Neulander is 61.
"Given his age, I think the verdict was about right," said Melissa Valdez, 25, Pare's friend, also a law student at Rutgers-Camden.
"I didn't want him to get the death penalty," said Betty Andrecola, 79, of Pennsauken. "He could still make himself useful."
But others thought a tougher penalty would have been appropriate.
"I'm an eye-for-an-eye type person from back in the day," said Brittney Daniels, a 26-year-old secretary from Camden. "Back in the day, if you stole something you got your fingers cut off. He took someone's life."
Others couldn't help thinking the rabbi caught a break.
"I wonder what someone who was not a public figure would have gotten for the same crime," said Renee Sutin, a 47- year-old music teacher from Mount Holly. "I think the penalty might not have been harsh enough."
Attorney Jeffrey Schwartz said he still had compassion for Neulander and thought the sentence was fair.
"Jewish people should always be concerned about their own, regardless of what they did," Schwartz said. "He's still a fellow human being. I also had a problem with anyone getting death on that kind of evidence. If there is any possibility that he didn't do it I would hate to see the state put somebody to death."
The Rev. Mark Merrill, a minister from Camden, held Neulander to a higher standard.
"I don't believe in the death penalty because I don't think it is justly applied," said Merrill, 46. "But if everything is true and he did have his wife killed, I think he should spend the rest of his life in jail without the possibility of parole.
"Being a rabbi he should be made more accountable. He knows better."
Staff writers Cheryl Squadrito Moskovitz and Barbara S. Rothschild contributed to this report. Reach Bill Duhart at (856) 486-2576 or bduhart@courierpostonline.com
