FREEHOLD, N.J. — The lawyer defending Rabbi Fred Neulander against a capital murder charge embarked on an all-out effort Wednesday to undo damage done by the prosecution's chief witness, the confessed contract killer of Neulander's wife.

Attorney Michael Riley began what is expected to be a long cross-examination of Len Jenoff by highlighting the many self-aggrandizing lies and half-truths Jenoff told people throughout his life.

Jenoff acknowledges telling people falsely that he is an FBI-trained, ex-CIA counter-terrorism agent who not only met President Ronald Reagan and Oliver North but also was a player in the Iran-Contra Affair. But Jenoff so far has not budged from his un-coerced confession in May 2000 that he and roommate Paul Daniels killed Carol Neulander with a lead pipe because she stood between Fred Neulander and his mistress.

Jurors have already heard that Fred Neulander told one witness that he wanted to arrive home and find his wife "dead on the floor." They have also heard that he allegedly promised the now former mistress, Elaine Soncini, that the lovers would be free to date openly by her birthday in December 1994 — about six weeks after the murder.

But Riley believes that the rabbi's fate rises or falls on whether jurors believe the testimony of her confessed killer. Jenoff says that Neulander recruited him for the murder in exchange for $30,000 and help getting into the Israeli equivalent of the CIA, the Mossad.

Riley started his cross-examination of Jenoff by getting the witness to concede he is a skilled and practiced liar. Jenoff could get from 10 to 30 years in prison when he is sentenced by Judge Linda Baxter and has a vested interest in helping prosecutor James Lynch secure a conviction against the rabbi, Riley noted in his questions.

Fact or Fantasy

Riley asked Jenoff numerous times about the "fantasy" he created during 1970s that revolved around being a former employee of the Central Intelligence Agency. After a tour in the Army Reserves, Jenoff began listing the CIA as a former employer on his resume and actively tried to get into the Mossad by using a law enforcement contact in South Jersey, according to testimony.

Riley referred to Jenoff derisively several times as "CIA Lenny" when posing questions. Lynch, the prosecutor, rarely objected and looked bored by the cross-examination. Neulander has displayed very little emotion during the trial so far and even less Wednesday. He placed a legal folder between himself and Court TV's camera and rarely turns toward the gallery.

After highlighting just a half-dozen of Jenoff's admitted lies and how he was able to mix them with some truth to have people believe them, Riley turned his attention to Jenoff's testimony on direct examination last Friday. Jenoff told jurors then that it was over several meetings in the spring and summer of 1994 that Neulander asked him to kill an enemy of Israel and Jews in Cherry Hill — an enemy that Jenoff says he later learned was Carol Neulander.

Previewing his closing argument he'll likely make to jurors later this month, Riley underscored the fact that no one other than Neulander and Jenoff were present at any of the times that the two friends allegedly discussed the killing.

"We have to believe you, right?" Riley asked at one point.

"Certainly, if you are talking about and planning a murder, you don't invite a lot of people," Jenoff said in explanation.

At another point, Riley snuck in a statement masquerading as a question. "Again, we don't have any evidence except what comes out of your mouth, correct?"

The Hit Man's Lies

Riley focused all of his energies Wednesday on lies Jenoff concedes he wrote on his resume and an application he filed in order to obtain his license to be a private investigator in New Jersey.

Among other falsehoods, Jenoff admitted lying about:

* Having been employed by the Central Intelligence Agency;

* Training at the FBI National Academy;

* Meeting Ronald Reagan and receiving a photo from the President that read, "To Len Jenoff, A comrade in arms -- Reagan";

* Receiving a Meritorious Service Commendation;

* Attending Texas A&M University;

* Being asked by CIA to mingle among "narco-terrorists" when he worked as an executive casino host for Playboy;

* Serving on the President's Commission on Organized Crime;

* Working as a consultant to the Maryland and New Jersey state police;

* Having been approached by foreign nationals about obtaining a material used in a nuclear weapon, something he told the FBI;

* A claim that he was a member of the Association of Former Intelligence Officers;

* and, testifying before the Senate Intelligence Committee.

The defense probed Jenoff's lies about his past in excruciating detail in an effort to show that he told them so often that he began to believe some of them. Jenoff had numerous meetings with FBI agents during 1994, all designed, he said, to find out if he legally could work for Mossad and still retain his U.S. citizenship.

Riley suggested, however, that Jenoff was really trying to become a paid government informant and gave little thought to whether or not any federal agency would check out his claims about having been a secret agent.

During Neulander's first trial, which ended in a mistrial because jurors could not reach a unanimous verdict, the defense tried to keep Jenoff's testimony out of evidence. Lawyers argued that he was unable to separate reality from fantasy.

During the current trial, Riley appears to be dwelling on Jenoff's trumped-up resume in order to suggest that he is making up stories about conversations with Neulander and may not even know himself that they did not happen.

To counter evidence that Neulander or his lawyers did pay Jenoff several thousand dollars by check over several years, Riley went through invoices to show that Jenoff actually did some of the investigative work he billed. Last week and again on Wednesday morning, Jenoff said on direct that he was just going through the motions in order to substantiate the bills, which he claims were actually payments for carrying out the murder of Carol Neulander.

"He was afraid to withdraw or handle cash anymore," Jenoff said of the defendant. "He was afraid that would expose him to law enforcement."

Rabbi: 'Everything is okay. She's dead."

Lynch, the prosecutor, wrapped up his questioning of Jenoff earlier Wednesday by acknowledging some of Jenoff's lies. Jenoff said that after Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Nancy Phillips convinced him to confess his role in the killing, he met with prosecutors and police but initially limited his role in an effort to limit his criminal liability.

Jenoff insisted that his testimony and written police statements were, to his knowledge, completely truthful.

Toward the end of his direct testimony, Jenoff told jurors about being married in 1998 by Neulander in the same room where Carol Neulander was killed and where the family observed the Jewish rite of Shiva. Jenoff also recalled attending Carol Neulander's funeral and waiting to greet the rabbi and the receiving line.

"When I finally got to Rabbi Neulander, we gave other a hug and Rabbi Neulander patted me on the back and asked if I was OK," Jenoff said.

"I said, 'Yes, are you OK?' " Jenoff continued. "He said, 'Yes, everything is going to be alright now. She's dead."

The trial, now in its third week, is being broadcast by Court TV.