Syracuse, N.Y. — Robert Neulander was found guilty this afternoon of the 2012 murder of his wife Leslie at his DeWitt home.
After more than six hours of deliberation, the jury reached its verdict.
This is the second time Neuland, 70, has been convicted of the murder of Leslie. In 2015, a jury convicted Neulander after 18 hours of deliberation over four days.
After each juror was asked about their decision, Neuland was immediately handcuffed and taken directly to the Onondaga County Justice Center.
After his initial conviction, Neuland served three years in prison before a court overturned the verdict in 2018 for jury misconduct. He has since been released on $1 million bail. His second trial has been delayed by the pandemic.
After hours of hearing witness testimony and combing through hundreds of pieces of evidence, the jury concluded that Leslie couldn’t have died from slipping in the shower, a story Neulander has been doing for nearly 10 years.
Robert Newland found guilty
The elevator doors closed as Robert Newland was taken away by Onondaga County court officials. On March 17, 2022, the Onondaga County Court in Syracuse, New York handed down a guilty verdict in the murder of Robert Newland. Dennis Ness | dnett@syracuse.com
Throughout the trial, the defense and prosecutors took very different approaches.
Neulanders defense attorney Jonathan Bach wants the jury to focus on the science and a simple explanation of Leslie’s injuries.
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Onondaga County District Attorney William Fitzpatrick wants them to consider the odd circumstances of the bloody scene and the impossibility of the timeline Newland gave investigators.
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In the end, science failed to convince the jury that Neuland was innocent. They took into account the impossible nature of the whole scene.
Judge Thomas Miller delivered his verdict on April 11. Neuland faces a life sentence of up to 25 years.
Leslie Neulander was 61 when she died in the bedroom suite of the 8,000-square-foot mansion she shared with her husband. She is the mother of two children and an ardent philanthropist in the Syracuse area.
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