Smoothie-killer gets 20 years

Maryann Neabor was sentenced this morning to 20 years in prison for serving her brother-in-law a fatal antifreeze-laced smoothie three years ago.

The Shamong Township woman, a former emergency medical technician, was found guilty of aggravated manslaughter by a Burlington County jury in late July.

Superior Court Judge Thomas Smith Jr. chose a sentence today that fell halfway between the least and most years - 10 and 30 - he could have imposed.

She must serve at least 17 years, explained Ray Milavsky, first assistant prosecutor for Burlington County.

Although Prosecutor Michael Luciano had asked for the maximum punishment, "we're satsified with the sentence," said Milavsky. "... The judge balanced all the issues he needed to and imposed a fair sentence."

Neabor prepared a creamy drink by blending about one-third or one-half cup of antifreeze with fruit and served it to brother-in-law Jonathan Neabor, she told state police after her arrest.

During the two-week trial, she took the stand and recanted two confessions, in which she declared she was only trying to sicken her brother-in-law, when he came to visit in July 2004, hoping to control his stocks, bonds and other finances.

The jury acquitted Neabor of murder charges.

"It was a thoughtful verdict," said Luciano after the jury's decision. "Maryann Neabor killed Jonathan Neabor. She poisoned him and watched him pass away at her house," he said, referring to the two hours she sat with him at her kitchen table, watching him as he slowly began to slur his words, fumbling clumsily with his cigarette and breathing heavily. She watched as he staggered and then collapsed before he was finally taken to the hospital.

In her confession, Neabor admitted to police that her brother-in-law, a retired postal worker who lived alone, had told her that he took out a $1 million life insurance policy and listed the couple as beneficiaries.

Neabor, a Camden County College adjunct professor who taught health and safety, including the topic of poisons, said she never wanted him to die from the smoothie.

When she took the stand, her story changed. She told the court that she never poured antifreeze into the drink and testified that she had confessed because her former lawyer, Craig Mitnick, warned her that if someone didn't admit guilt, the state police would arrest the whole family. She wanted to spare her children from jail, she testified.

The prosecutor had argued that the sons were the ones who expressed concern about their uncle when they saw his condition early that morning and asked their parents to call the ambulance. But it was too late - he died a few hours later at a hospital.