FREEHOLD, N.J. — Rabbi Fred Neulander's defense lawyer launched a new offensive Thursday against key prosecution witness Len Jenoff by calling a New Jersey prison inmate who says the confessed hit man told him he had been involved in another slaying.

In a hearing outside the presence of a jury, the lawyer, Michael Riley, questioned the inmate, David Beardsley, about statements Jenoff allegedly made to him when they shared a cell.

Beardsley testified that Jenoff confessed to being involved in the slaying of Janice Bell, 33, who was stabbed six or seven times in the back in her Voorhees, N.J., home on Dec. 7, 1995. The murder, which remains unsolved, occurred a year and a month after Carol Neulander, the rabbi's wife, was beaten to death with lead pipes by Jenoff and his roommate, Paul Daniels. The judge must decide whether the defense will be allowed to cross-examine Jenoff on the Bell murder.

At Fred Neulander's first trial, which ended with a deadlocked jury last November, Beardsley testified for the defense that Jenoff confessed to killing Carol Neulander during a robbery and that her husband had nothing to do with it.

Len Jenoff, above, admitted he killed Carol Neulander.

According to Riley, Beardsley told defense investigators that Jenoff was concerned that he left tire marks on Bell's driveway when he fled the scene of the murder. Police photographed such tire marks, providing support for Beardsley's claim. A ring was also taken from Bell by her killer or killers and has never been found.

If Jenoff is permitted to testify about what he may know about the Bell murder, it could be helpful to the defense. Neulander's lawyer contends that Jenoff knew that Carol Neulander brought large amounts of cash home from the bakery she managed and that he may have simply killed her in the course of a robbery.

Prosecutors alleged that Fred Neulander paid Jenoff $30,000 to kill Carol Neulander because the rabbi wanted to end his marriage by a means other than divorce in order to see his longtime mistress openly.

Witness: Hit man 'showed no remorse'

Beardsley testified Thursday that he met Jenoff in May 2000 when he was awaiting sentencing on his sexual assault charge — he got 20 years — and Jenoff had just gone to police and confessed to killing Carol Neulander with Daniels' help.

Jenoff, according to the witness, claimed that he had killed a boy in a hit-and-run accident in Baltimore and had also participated in the Bell murder. Jenoff said he dropped off an accomplice at Bell's home and circled the area in a car for a while before returning. He was concerned that he had sped off too quickly and left tire marks that could be traced back to him, Beardsley testified.

"He bragged about killing Ms. Neulander, he bragged about killing the boy and he bragged about killing Ms. Bell," Beardsley said. "I wanted to knock the hell out of him. It was revolting. He showed no remorse for these people."

Lynch, the prosecutor, argued that Beardsley's statements were known to Neulander's defense lawyer during the first trial and should have been known to Riley. "Regrettably, we have recessed a capital murder trial for a day and half based on information that is not new, not different, not something that is unknown to the defense," Lynch said.

Reading from documents provided by the prosecution through discovery, Riley told the judge that police questioned Jenoff about his whereabouts on the day of the Bell murder in October 2000. Jenoff, who had already pleaded guilty in connection with the Neulander killing to escape a potential death sentence, then denied involvement in the Bell murder and offered an alibi.

Jenoff, according to Riley, told police that he was at a worker's compensation hearing before a Superior Court judge for much of the day of Dec. 7, 1995. Neulander's defense team checked that out Wednesday and learned that the hearing was actually the day after Janice Bell was killed, Riley said.

"[It] puts in disrepute the alibi offered by Mr. Jenoff," Riley argued.

Riley also argued that police received evidence that Jenoff approached Bell's family in Camden's courthouse before the murder and was paid $150 for investigative services after the killing for unspecified work. Jenoff has held himself out to be a private investigator and a counter-terrorist agent with CIA ties.

Defense: 'This is about credibility'

Judge Baxter is allowing the lawyers to call witnesses so that she can determine whether to allow Riley to ask Jenoff about his knowledge of the Bell case and his possible involvement. If she allows it and Jenoff denies any role in the slaying, Riley would likely make a motion to ask Beardsley about Jenoff's alleged statements as part of the defense case.

"Judge, it is no secret this is a case of credibility ... the credibility of Len Jenoff," Riley said.

During his one hour on the witness stand, Beardsley sparred with Lynch, the prosecutor, about when and who he told of Jenoff's alleged admissions. Handcuffed and dressed in brown prison garb, Beardsley said he told the assistant district attorney that prosecuted him for child molestation as early as May 2000.

"He told me I better stay out of the rabbi's case," Beardsley testified.

The lawyer who defended Neulander at his first trial, Jeffrey Zucker, took the stand and testified that he learned about Beardsley's claims after jury selection started last year. "I certainly became aware of that," Zucker said.

Lynch criticized Zucker for not turning over to the prosecution an investigator's one-page report the first time Beardsley informed the defense about Jenoff's alleged statement. The document was discoverable and should have been turned over to Lynch, the judge said. She will have to rule whether the failure by the defense to turn it over will bar the rabbi's new defense team from asking Jenoff about the Bell case.

"Did I do it intentionally? That's absolutely impossible," Zucker testified.

Earlier, Lynch called the defense's failure to turn over the document "an outrage."

"It is one page of over six or seven thousand," Zucker said.

Neulander's former defense lawyer also testified that he made a strategic decision not to go into anything about the Bell murder during the first trial. Riley, however, reversed course and wants to go down the road in order to argue later that Jenoff killed Carol Neulander during a robbery, not at Fred Neulander's behest.

Camden Assistant District Attorney John Wynne testified that he prosecuted Beardsley for the sexual assault in 2000 but denied warning him to stay out of the Neulander case. Wynne did admit, however, that he intentionally walked into a courtroom last year when Beardsley was being cross-examined by the Neulander case prosecutor to get a rise out of Beardsley, which he did.

Baxter also heard testimony from lawyers for Jenoff and Daniels. Both denied that the police investigation of the Bell murder played any role in the decisions by their clients to plead guilty in the Neulander case.

Lynch asked Francis Hartman, Jenoff's attorney, if he ever heard of a case where a defense lawyer or investigator could glean evidence from a police file and then pass it along to a "jailhouse rat." The implication was that Beardsley could have learned about the tire tracks found at the Bell murder scene from the defense after Lynch let Neulander's previous lawyers see the Bell file.

Hartman said he had never heard of such a thing happening but is sure he could depending on "the ethics" of the lawyers involved.

The hearing will resume at 8:30 a.m. ET Friday with brief arguments and a ruling by the judge. The proceedings are being broadcast live by Court TV.