S1: EP 11 – Who Killed Carol? Part 3

Rabbi Fred Newlander was on trial for the murder of his wife, Carol Newlander. He's accused of hiring len Jenoff as his hitman. As the trial came to its climax, Rabbi Fred Newlander decided to take the stand in his own defense.

Fred had virtually hung himself when he took the stand. He was his own worst witness.

But the prosecution struggled with their own star witness, len Jenoff, to.

Convict this man. You have to believe what len Jenoff told you was the truth.

Having him take the stand was very risky by the prosecution, and the defense did a great job of attempting to shred Jenoff to pieces.

The whole case boiled down to who was more credible, the adulter as holy man or the line hit man. We are in South Jersey today for the conclusion of who killed Carol. I'm Sloane Glass and this is American Homicide. Just a note that this episode contained some graphic content. Please take care while listening. After three and a half weeks of heated testimony, the case of Rabbi Fred Newlander went to the jury. At the same time, a curious book debut in bookstores titled Keep your Mouth Shut and

Council, we've received a note from the jury.

On the seventh day of deliberations, Judge Baxter received a handwritten note from the jury's foreman.

It reads as, follows your honor.

After revisiting evidence and testimony, we the jury have concluded that a unanimous decision on all three counts is not possible.

On that note, I am going to declare a mistrial.

I was stunned. Everybody was stunned. How could this possibly be?

Arthur mcgita, who wrote extensively about this case, was sitting with Carrol's family when Judge Baxter called a mistrial.

I did not want to turn around. I did not want to look in their faces. How dare they let him go out on the street and they did. I know what I felt and I know what I thought, and it had to have been just a fraction of their emotions.

Judge Baxter ordered a retrial for Rabbi Newlander. This time, the trial would head about an hour north of cherry Hill to Freehold, New Jersey. Freehold is where Bruce Springsteen grew up and even sang about it in his nineteen eighty five song My Hometown. The reason Judge Baxter moved the trial was to find an impartial jury.

It was difficult finding a jury because this case had been so well publicized.

Mcgita was among the dozens of journalists who packed the tiny courtroom their reporter.

There were cameras. It was a madhouse. It was a frenzy.

Just like the first trial, The Rabbi's retrial was aired from start to finish on Court TV. This allowed people from all over the country to play armchair duror and debate the guilt or innocence of Rabbi Fred Newlander. But back in Cherry Hill, most had already made up their minds.

A majority of the residents of Cherry Hill, of South Jersey, Jory, the Congregants from Macorse alone believed that Fred Newlander had a hand somehow in killing Carol.

In the first trial, jurors heard from Rabbi Newlander's mistress and four witnesses who said the Rabbi wanted his wife dead. Three of the twelve jurors didn't believe the state proved its case beyond a reasonable doubt, which resulted in a hungery.

I could not believe that so much evidence against the Rabbi was eliminated, discard disgraced by the jury.

In late two thousand and two, most of the players from the first trial returned for the retrial, including the prosecutor, James Lynch.

You're going to hear that Fred Newlander, the Rabbi was a man of God who acted in a thoroughly ungodly fashion.

A year had passed between trials, and Rabbi Fred Newlander appeared much thinner and his gray hair shorter. He also had a new lawyer named Michael Riley.

Let me tell you something, ladies and gentlemen. There is no evidence of mister Newlander's involvement in this case unless you listen to the words from the mouth of Len General. There is nothing. There's nothing physical, there's no business wreckers, there's no bank records, there is nothing except the mouth of Len Gennal.

Just like in the first trial, the defense said Len Jenoff could not be trusted, and frankly, from everything we've learned so far, Len was not credible or trustworthy.

Glen Jenoff's life is nothing but he even, in an effort to support this belief that he is a CIA agent, had a picture of Ronald Reagan ostensibly autographed dar Lenny from Ronnie.

Many said the handwriting on that photo looked more like len Jenoff's than Ronald Reagan's.

There's nothing real about this man.

He's a liar.

The defense argued it was len Jenoff who came up with the plan to rob and murder Carol Newlander.

Len Jenoff became aware that she would take large sums of money home from her cake company. Glen Jenoff went to the new Lander house that night to kill her and steal her money.

The defense also suggested the rabbi's ex mistress, Elaine Sencini, had franked him.

Does she have a reason to be angry at this person who betrayed her too?

He was seeing other women.

He was nine cheating on his wife.

He was cheating on his girlfriend.

Just like the first trial. Jurors her testimony from Elaine Cencini, Peppy Levin, len Jenof, and Paul Michael Daniels. Their testimony was nearly identical to the first trial, except for one witness, the rabbi's son, Matthew. By then, Matthew was a doctor, and the prosecutor referred to him by his title doctor Newlander. Back on the night of his mother's murder, Matthew was working as an emt. In fact, he was one of the first responders to his mother's murder at their home.

Here are two large guys, and they physically grabbed me and brought me back down the driveway to where I finally saw for for it.

Did you catch that? It was so subtle that you may have missed it. But doctor Matthew Newlander referred to his father as Fred. That testimony caused Fred Newlander to immediately whisper into his lawyer's ear and ask, why is he calling me Fred? But calling his father Fred was just the beginning.

When I first saw him, he looked kind of the way he looks right now, sort of blank and unemotional. He said nothing to me. He wasn't breathing heavily, wasn't crying or showing any outward sign of grief or remorse at all. He didn't have a drop of blood on his clothing.

Matthew didn't hold back about his father's lack of emotion or perceived lack of emotion over his mother's murder.

Never, at any time did he show any signs outwardly of grief remorse.

And never, in all the times.

That I've seen him in the year since, as he ever cried, never had a pleasant memory of her, or seemed to grieve or worn for her in any way.

What you're hearing is the one huge difference between the first and second trial. Matthew Newlander was no longer protecting his father.

I asked him, where's mom? What happened? Is she okay? Is someone taking care of her? His answers were really just one repeated over and over again. Everything's going to be okay, Everything's going to be okay.

Matthew said he and his dad had had many conversations about the night of his mother's murder, so.

He was repulsed by what he saw. Two repulsed to go in to see if she was okay. I found my wife for a child on the floor right. I would want to go try to help and you know, if he couldn't help, fine, but at least you're there.

A couple of the jurors wiped away tears as Matthew struggled to choke back his own. Ironically, it was while talking about his dad's lack of emotion.

I would have given my right arm for five minutes just to sit there with her and hold her hand and tell her that I was there.

Matthew's heartbreaking testimony stunned the defense, but would it be enough to overshadow the juror's doubts about len Jenoff. If there was one major difference between the first trial and the retrial of Rabbi Fred Newlander, it was the testimony of his son, Matthew. While on the witness stand, Matthew Newlander only referred to his father by his first name, Fred. It was something even the rabbi's defense lawyer did not ignore, so he calls.

Father bade to call him father, no, to call him Fred. Right from the beginning, Fred does fread.

That the anger of that young man in the sadness was all.

Of a whelming.

Interestingly enough, the defense did not put the rabbi back on the witness stand. Instead, they focused on len Jenoff's long history of lying, and urged the jurors not to let emotion cloud their judgment.

Ladies and gentlemen, emotion, it's not evidence.

Passion is not true.

Prosecutor James Lynch had the final word.

Mister Leonard Jennoff.

Is not being held up to you as a model citizen. He is a man who took money to kill someone.

The case went to the seven men and five women of the jury on Friday, November fifteenth, two thousand and two. The following Wednesday, Judge Baxter received a note from the jury's fore women.

I understand from your note that you have reached a verdict. Yes, we have.

After twenty seven hours of deliberations, the jury's for women stood before Judge Baxter. When she spoke, her voice quivered, and there was something else. She tears in her eyes. Before anyone could guess the meaning of those tears, the verdict echoed through the courtroom.

Guilty.

Nearly eight years after the murder of Carol Newlander, her husband, Rabbi Fred Neulander, was found guilty of capital murder. In the back of the courtroom, Carol's siblings all locked hands, put their heads down and started to cry. Meanwhile, the Rabbi stood there in a daze. As Judge Baxter addressed the jury.

Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, having found the defendant, Fred Newlander, guilty of murder, you now have, as you know, the added responsibility of determining what penalty for that crime is to be imposed upon him.

A guilty verdict in a capital murder trial triggers what's known as the penalty phase. This meant these twelve jurors, one who already had tears in her eyes, had the a I did responsibility of deciding the Rabbi's fate, and at the time, New Jersey still had the death penalty.

Under the law enacted by our legislature, the penalty may be either death or a term of years between thirty years and life imprisonment, of which thirty years must be served before the defendant is eligible for parole.

Much like the trial itself, the prosecutors and the defense both presented their arguments for what they considered just punishment, and that included testimony from the Rabbi.

I am here to a for aplea for my life.

Fred Newlander was sixty one years old at the time and delivered what was arguably the most important sermon of his life.

If I look at the days of the years of my life before the first of November of nineteen ninety four, they were filled with great blessings. First and foremost, I had my wife, Carol. She was a remarkable woman, and I miss her, and I loved her, and I love her. Now there are those who I'm sure behind their hands with snicker, I have acknowledged for the longest time my behavior that was reprehensible, and my behavior that was disgraceful. And yet.

You must believe I.

Loved her and love her. Starting today, there is another sense of the days of the years of my life that will unfold. I do not know where I will be, quite obviously don't know now, But wherever I will be, there will be men who cannot read.

The Rabbi explained that in Hebrew, the word rabbi means teacher.

I'm a good teacher, I was a good teacher. I can be a good teacher. And I want to help that young man that will enhance the days of the years of my life. By helping the days of the years of that young man's life. That's all I want is that opportunity to teach. I beseech you, I importune you, I beg of you for that privilege, and I promise, I promise that I will do whatever a teacher should do to enrich the lives of people that come in contact with that teacher.

The rabbi smiled and nodded to the jury before slowly walking back to the defense table. He sat down, removed his glasses, and looked exhausted. Two full days past before the jury returned. That's when the four women handed a note to Judge Baxter.

After due deliberation, the jury cannot unanimously agree upon punishment.

This shifted the responsibility back to Judge Baxter, who now had to impose a sentence. At another hearing in early two thousand and three, witnesses from both sides stated their case for punishment, including the rabbi's sister in law.

He is truly a monster beyond human comprehension, and he should never ever be free again.

Carol's brother also didn't mince words.

You are the lowest form of humanity. You dishonored Carol, yourself, your children, this court, your congregation.

The rabbitt and.

Judaism absent from the hearing were the rabbi's son Matthew and daughter Rebecca. Instead, they sent letters to the court. Rebecca wrote, I'm not sure that he will ever fully comprehend what his ego, maniacal and selfish acts did to my family and me. Matthew went a step further and called his father a sociopath and a worthless, soulless, pathetic shell of a man. Throughout both of these trials, the

Things like soccer games, swim meets, school events at as many as he could. I remember seeing him there, and you know, those were the good times. I knew that when I needed somebody to be there for me for any particular difficulty that I was having, he and I could relate on a very special level. And I knew that as busy as he was, he would always be able to find time to just guide me through whatever

Benjamin Newlander was now returning the favor for his dad.

I'm a teacher, and one of the biggest reasons that I'm a teacher is because of my father. So I think that speaks for just his influence on me. I think he led me down an amazing path, and I think that there are other people that he can do that for. And just give him the chance to show that he can still do that, because I know that you can.

Ultimately, Fred Newlander's fate was in Judge Baxter's hands, and after careful consideration, she spared him the death penalty, instead issuing the maximum sentence short of death, thirty years to life. Here's his former lawyer, death sucker.

He's in a prison where almost everybody in the prison is serving tremendously long sentences, their life sentences. The last time I saw him, he still professes his innocence, says he had nothing to do with it.

Rabbi Fred Newlander was incarcerated in a maximum security prison in New Jersey. It's one of the country's oldest facilities.

I feel horribly for the family. I mean, I don't think he's had any contact with his children. I spent a lot of time with each of his children preparing for this trial, and they were all nice kids, they really were. It's a horrible tragedy for them. I think Matthew was legitimately horrified by his father. First, your mother's murdered, and then your father's convicted of the murdered. Can't get much worse.

More than eight years and two trials later, Rabbi Fred Newlander was convicted of hiring a hitman to kill his wife Carol. In two thousand and three, Rabbi Newlander agreed to an interview with Barbara Walters, and once again the Rabbi declared his innocence.

If you were innocent, why would God do this to you?

I don't think God is a great puppeteer. I think what happened to me was driven by human beings.

Rabbi Newlander said law enforcement was under an enormous amount of pressure to solve the murder and used his infidelity to label him a murderer.

Am By, as God is your witness, did you have anything to do with your wife's murder?

No?

He said that of all the victims, he cried the most for his children. He added that he was devastated that two of them wrote him off.

Aren't you tormented? If you're sitting here an innocent man, you have.

No idea how much rage I.

Have shot it.

You know, one of the things that I have been trained to do is hold on to my emotions.

The rabbi explained that there's no book that says this is how a guilty person acts, and this is how an innocent person acts.

I can't express remorse for a murder that I did not commit.

Afterwards, Barbara Walters called their interview eerie because the rabbi, who claimed to be enraged, laid no emotion throughout their interview. As for Len Jenoff and Paul Michael Daniels, the two who actually carried out the murder of Carol Newlander, both pled guilty and were sentenced to twenty three years in prison.

I've dealt in one way or another with the new Lander case since nineteen ninety nine.

Arthur mcgida wrote the book The Rabbi and the hit Man, and there was one final and bizarre twist in this case. In May two thousand and eight, Len Jennof filed emotion challenging his sentence. In that motion, he claimed ineffective counsel and stated that his lawyer slept through most of his court proceedings. He also alleged he had been promised significantly less time than twenty three years.

Len Jenoff was such a dubious and questionable character, and in the best of all worlds, nobody should believe anything he ever said.

In two thousand and nine, len Jenov said he had given a lot of thought to what happened and wanted to set the record straight. In assigned affidavit, len wrote, Fred Neulander never asked me to kill his wife, and to the best of my knowledge, he never had any idea of any attempt on his wife's life. In other words, len Jenoff recanted and said the incident at the Newlanders was a robbery gone bad and not a murder for hire.

How could Jenov be believed? Now he's wild over and over again, he admits, but he claims he's telling the truth. Just this one time.

Well, it turns out len Jenov wasn't done lying. Three years after retracting his confession, Jenoff flip flopped yet again. In twenty twelve, Len told the Philadelphia Inquirer that he regretted forcanting his statement. He said, I testified at two trials that Fred Newlander did hire me, in fact, to kill his wife and make it look like a robbery, and that is the truth. Len called his actions immoral and again reverted to his initial testimony at the trials.

Lender Jenoff, who was not a man of his word, had never been a man of his word, and absolutely nothing coming out of Jenoff's mouth could be believed.

In twenty fourteen, both Len Jenoff and Paul Michael o'daniels walked out of prison free men. They both had served more than fourteen years before being released from prison. Throughout the years, Rabbi Fred Newlander has appealed his conviction and petitioned for a new trial each time he was denied. In a twenty twelve interview with NBC ten in Philadelphia, the rabbi mid his behavior in his marriage was appalling.

I would hope that there was some deep core of Fred Newlander that was speaking to him, nagging at him and telling him he was a shame and a shambles of a human being. We'll never know what happened.

He's right, we will never know the full story about why Carol Newlander was murdered because in April twenty twenty four, the rabbi took those answers to his grave.

Fred Newlander, a former Cherry Hill rabbi who was convicted in the murder for hire of his wife, has died in prison at the age of eighty two.

Correctional officers found Fred Newlander unresponsive on Wednesday.

After performing CPR and using an ad a new Land was pronounced oad of the hospital. No cause of death was released to the public, and according to one of the rabbi's former lawyers, up until the time of his death, the rabbi had been counseling other inmates on religion. Next