FREEHOLD, N.J. — The same jury that convicted Rabbi Fred Neulander of arranging his wife's murder was unable to decide Friday whether he should live or die, thus leaving it up to the judge to sentence the rabbi to 30 years to life in prison.

After just 90 minutes of deliberations, the jury of seven men and five men failed to reach a unanimous decision in the penalty phase of the 61-year-old rabbi's capital murder trial. As a result, Neulander will not be eligible for parole for 30 years and could get life in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 16 by Judge Linda Baxter.

Carol Neulander

Neulander sighed as the jury forewoman announced the verdict. Earlier Friday, Neulander insisted that he loved and misses Carol Neulander, and promised jurors that he would positively impact the lives of other inmates if they spared him the death penalty.

"Personally, I had a problem with him saying he loved his wife," said one juror, who declined to be identified in an interview with Courttv.com.

Prosecutor James Lynch did not specifically ask jurors to hand down a death sentence but urged them to let their conscience guide them to "do the right thing." After the decision was announced, Lynch said he was not particularly surprised. "In my opinion, justice has been served," Lynch said. "This was not a defendant who was above the law."

If Neulander had received a death sentence, he would have become the fifteenth person to be sent to New Jersey's death row since capital punishment was reinstated in 1982.

Rebecca Neulander-Rockoff's testimony helped convict her father for arranging her mother's murder, a juror says.

Neulander's convictions on charges of first-degree murder, felony murder and second-degree conspiracy are headed for the appellate division of New Jersey Superior Court. Among other things, the defense is expected to complain that Baxter erred when she allowed jurors to listen to hearsay testimony about remarks Neulander made to his wife, Carol, and related to the couple's adult daughter, Rebecca Neulander-Rockoff.

Neulander-Rockoff testified that Carol Neulander told her in a telephone conversation that a man who asked to use the bathroom was a deliveryman sent by "Daddy." Len Jenoff, a private investigator, testified that he was the "bathroom guy" Carol Neulander referred to in the telephone call. He said Fred Neulander paid him $18,000 to kill Carol Neulander and make the murder look like a botched robbery.

The only juror to speak after the death penalty phase ended Friday said Neulander-Rockoff's testimony was crucial in the jury's decision to convict the rabbi. Because the jury believed Jenoff "was a liar about a lot of things," they looked to Neulander-Rockoff to corroborate his testimony, the juror said. "It was very critical information that played an important part in him being found guilty," he said.

"There were too many things that could not have been coincidental," the juror said.

Carol Neulander's sister, Margaret Miele, said the family would be "forever saddened" by Carol's death.

Margaret Miele, Carol Neulander's sister, told reporters after the decision that the family was relieved that the case was over after eight long years. "Though forever saddened by the permanent void in our lives, we look forward to cherishing our many wonderful memories of a warm, generous and fun-loving sister."

Matthew Neulander, the rabbi's oldest son, said he, too, was pleased with the jury's decisions. He said he was convinced of his father's guilty and disturbed by his comments earlier Friday to the jury.

"We all know Fred to be those things, arrogant beyond anyone I have ever met," said Matthew Neulander, who refers to his father by his first name. "His words this morning were so absolutely galling, absolutely so inappropriate, so frustrating and so maddening and yet so like him ... that he would sit there as a convicted felon and eulogize my mother."

He described his mother as his "closest friend and confidante" and said "the void I feel not having her in my life and the lives of my wife and new baby certainly hurts every day."

His mother's killers — Jenoff and his accomplice, Paul Daniels — pleaded guilty to aggravated manslaughter and will be sentenced on Jan. 23. Jenoff faces 10 to 30 years in prison; Daniels faces 25 to 50 years.