Rabbi sentenced to life for murdering wife

CAMDEN, N.J. -- A rabbi convicted of having his wife killed so he could carry on an affair was sentenced to life in prison Thursday, insisting he is an innocent man no matter what the jury decided.

"I cannot express remorse for something I did not do," Rabbi Fred J. Neulander said in a defiant 20-minute speech.

The rabbi, who once led southern New Jersey's largest Jewish congregation, quoted from Scripture to criticize the judge and prosecutors, saying, "Thou shalt not follow the multitude to pursue evil."

Neulander, 61, was found guilty in November of paying two men to kill his wife, Carol. The 52-year-old woman was found bludgeoned to death in 1994 in the couple's Cherry Hill home, in a crime prosecutors said Neulander arranged so that he could carry on an affair with a former Philadelphia radio host.

The jury spared him the death penalty.

In giving Neulander the maximum sentence, Judge Linda G. Baxter said his conduct was "so cold and calculating that it sends shivers down the spine of any civilized person." Neulander must serve at least 30 years before he is eligible for parole.

Carol Neulander's three siblings called for a long prison sentence, as did letters from two of the couple's grown children.

"I am not sure that he will ever fully comprehend what his egomaniacal and selfish acts did to my family and to me," wrote his daughter, Rebecca Neulander Rockoff. "I hope that the longer he sits in prison, the more he will be haunted by the magnitude of his losses."

Neulander had asked not to attend the sentencing, but the judge refused, saying that hearing what others had to say about him was part of his punishment.

Neulander, in handcuffs for the hearing, said he was not deeply hurt by his relatives' testimony: "I cannot be reached because the internal person knows something that no one else in this room knows, and that is my innocence."

The two hitmen, Len Jenoff and Paul Michael Daniels, pleaded guilty to lesser charges and are scheduled to be sentenced Jan. 31.

Neulander's first trial, in 2001, ended with a hung jury.

"I don't think the final chapter has been written in this case," said the rabbi's lawyer, Michael Riley.