The murder trial of a charismatic New Jersey rabbi has opened with the prosecution arguing that Mr Fred Neulander hired a hit man to beat his wife to death.
"This was a man, ladies and gentlemen, who had it all," the prosecutor, Mr James Lynch, told jurors in his opening statement. "He is a man who had the respect and admiration of his congregation. He had the love and support of his family. But it just wasn't enough for this man."
Mr Neulander, who has insisted he is innocent, could face the death penalty if convicted. The first American rabbi to face capital murder charges, Mr Neulander has said he will testify in his own defence. The case is being watched by many legal experts as a bellwether of how willing juries might be to impose the death penalty on members of the clergy.
The killing caused a sensation when Ms Carol Neulander's bloodstained body was found in her living room on the night of November 1st, 1994.
During their investigation, police learned the rabbi had had a series of extramarital affairs in the years leading to his wife's death; those revelations forced him to resign in disgrace from the Reform congregation that he had founded with her in 1973.
Prosecutors have argued that Mr Neulander (59) wanted to have his wife killed because one of the women he was seeing had threatened to leave him if he did not end the marriage. They suggested that the rabbi engaged in "phoney play-acting" when he came home nearly seven years ago, found his wife dead on the floor and made a tearful 911 call.
Mr Neulander's attorney said the rabbi's moral failings did not prove he had ordered his wife's killing. Just how the killing was carried out - and who did it - baffled police for several years; there was no weapon and no forensic evidence linking Mr Neulander to the crime. Police arrested him and charged him with murder in 1998, but the case broke wide open last year when the alleged hit man came forward to confess.
Len Jenoff, a recovering alcoholic who said he "loved" the rabbi, told a Philadelphia Inquirer reporter Mr Neulander had offered him $30,000 and a job with the Israeli secret service in exchange for killing his wife. He said he felt compelled to confess because, as the rabbi's trial approached last year, he feared Mr Neulander would not be convicted.
Jenoff told police that he and an accomplice, Paul Daniels, had gone to the rabbi's home when his wife was alone and beaten her to death. Jenoff said he stole Ms Neulander's purse to make it appear as though she were killed during a robbery. Both men have pleaded guilty and will be sentenced after their testimony is finished.