Dunwoody Daycare Shooting: Prosecution Rests in Hemy Neuman Murder Trial
Hemy Neuman is on trial, but Andrea Sneiderman gets the focus.
Feb. 29, 2012 — -- The prosecution wrapped up its case against murder suspect Hemy Neuman, but the focus of Tuesday's proceedings remained on Andrea Sneiderman, Neuman's alleged lover and the wife of his alleged victim.
Neuman, 49, is charged with shooting and killing Rusty Sneiderman, 36, in the parking lot of the Sneidermans' son's suburban Atlanta preschool in November 2010.
The case, playing out in the DeKalb County Courthouse in Decatur, Ga., has drawn national attention, in part because both the prosecution and defense's tough questioning of the victim's widow, who is not on trial.
Witness testimony last week revealed Andrea Sneiderman may have been involved in an affair with Neuman -- her former boss at GE Energy -- and that she gave conflicting statements about when she learned of her husband's death.
Sneiderman has been reacting vocally and physically throughout the trial, letting out sobs and shaking her head during opening statements earlier this week. She has been barred from the courtroom for the duration of the trial after she hugged and kissed a witness in front of the jury.
Prosecutor Don Geary has also said Sneiderman went into the state's witness room after being told not to do so.
Neuman has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. He claims he was commanded to carry out the murder by spirits resembling singers Olivia Newton-John and Barry White.
Lt. David Barnes of the Dunwoody police department, who interrogated Neuman right after the killing, testified Tuesday that Andrea Sneiderman failed to tell police about the alleged affair and a $2 million insurance policy on her husband. She also waited six days to tell investigators she believed Neuman was the shooter, he said.
Barnes said the widow's delay in sharing the information with police aroused suspicion.
Neither the defense nor the prosecution denies that Neuman pulled the trigger and killed Sneiderman, but they tell divergent stories of what led to the killing.
The prosecution has painted Neuman as a calculating killer who planned Sneiderman's shooting for months, going to gun shows, taking a gun safety course, going to target practice, renting a car for the shooting and wearing a disguise.
But Neuman's attorney, Doug Peters, said in his opening statements that Neuman believed he had been visited by an angel resembling Olivia Newton-John and a demon resembling Barry White, who told him that Sneiderman's children were his and that he needed to protect them by killing Rusty Sneiderman.
Neuman's defense claims he and Andrea Sneiderman were involved in a hot-and-cold affair when she worked for him at GE.
In her testimony, Sneiderman called Neuman "a self-proclaimed delusional individual" who fooled her using "masterful manipulation."
Andrea Sneiderman has not been charged in connection with her husband's death, and she has denied any affair with Neuman.
The prosecution introduced cell phone records that reveal Andrea Sneiderman contacted Neuman more than 1,400 times in a six-month period.
In previous testimony, Dr. Mark Waterman, who was part of the team that attempted to resuscitate Rusty Sneiderman at Atlanta Medical Center, said Sneiderman's wife had an "unusual" reaction to news of her husband's death.
"Not emotional, not crying, screaming, or wanting to know what happened," Waterman testified. "Her first request was for a child psychologist."
Waterman said she wanted a psychologist to "inform her children of his passing." He described the reaction as "unusual, to say the least."
Another witness to the shooting saw Andrea Sneiderman when she arrived at the day care center where her husband had been shot. On the stand, the woman, Aliyah Stotter, said Sneiderman didn't have "a tear in her eye."
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