Hemy Neuman Trial - Widow Removed from Courtroom
Prosecutors said Andrea Sneiderman should not be in the courtroom, and they called witnesses to detail the day of her husband's killing.
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Day four of testimony in the Hemy Neuman trial began with a startling development - the victim’s widow, Andrea Sneiderman, was banished from the courthouse unless she is called back to the stand to testify.
Both the prosecutor, Don Geary, and defense attorney, Doug Peters , wanted her out and said she was violating the judge’s order to avoid contact with other witnesses in the case.
Have you missed a day in the trial? Catch up on this week's testimony, including video.
They said that her actions in the courtroom and in the hallways could prejudice the jury. While sitting in the gallery, she has shaken her head from side to side and said "no," and "That's a lie" while witnesses were testifying. She hugged one witness in front of jurors and she reportedly accosted another witness in the hallway after some testimony declaring, "We're not friends any more." She also went into a witness room where some of her former co-workers were waiting to be called to testify.
Geary said he feared a mistrial and the judge granted the request.
Russell "Rusty" Sneiderman was gunned down in Nov. 2010 after dropping his 2-year-old son off at the daycare center in Dunwoody.
Much of the testimony Friday focused on whether Neuman acted odd or distressed at work or ever told anyone that he thought he was visited by demons or that an angel told him that he must kill. Neuman has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity and his lawyers have said he suffered from delusions.
The prosecution produced several witnesses to detail the day of the killing, including a security officer who testified about how GE security cameras and Neuman’s ID badge tracked his movements. He showed up for work about 5:30 a.m. on the day of the shooting, and left just before 6 a.m., hours before he would normally be there. And he returned just before lunch.
Others testified about the moments after the shooting.
A chiropractor and his wife crossed paths with Neuman as they left the post office next door. He said he heard the shooting and saw a man slowly walking back to a van, wearing an obvious costume beard and carrying a silver pistol.
"I was waiting for someone to shout "Cut," like it was a movie," said Craig Kuhlmyer. who added that the gunman looked right at him.
"I will never forget that face," Kuhlmyer said.
Witness Craig Lang, who was in his truck in the parking lot, said he saw the final shots, with the bearded gunman standing over the prone body of Rusty Sneiderman. He said the gunman continue to fire. "I saw Hemy shoot Rusty Sneiderman," Lang said. "Point blank range is what I'd call it."
Kuhlmyer said he rushed to Sneiderman and found him with a weak pulse and gasping for air. "He was bleeding out," he said.
Dr. Terrence Gfoerer, a pediatrician whose office is nearby, was rushed to the scene by onlookers. He said he performed CPR on Sneiderman for about five minutes before ambulance workers took over. "In my opinion, he was dead before EMS arrived."
Other testimony focused on what Andrea Sneiderman was told and when. She has testified that no one told her that her husband was shot until she got to Atlanta Medical Center. And that seems to be backed up by witness testimony on Friday. The assistant director of the school said that she didn't tell Andrea anything about a shooting, only that there was a incident at the school, but her son, Ian, was fine. Police on the scene testified that they wouldn't let her see what was going on and remarked that she never asked how her husband was.
Other witnesses, including Rusty's father, Don Sneiderman, said that Andrea called to tell them that Rusty was shot while she was on the way to the daycare center. "She called and said that Rusty had been shot and that she was so, so sorry. And that she was going over to Dunwoody Prep to find out what happened," Donald Sneiderman testified.
Andrea Neuman hasn't been implicated in the crime. The attending emergency room doctor, Mark Waterman, testified that as far as he knew, he was the first one to tell Andrea that her husband was shot and killed.
He described her reaction as unusual, and said that instead of asking how or why this happened, she requested a child psychologist to break the news to her children. "I've never seen that reaction before," he said.
Much of the testimony has centered on whether the widow and the suspect had been having an affair with Neuman, who was her supervisor at GE. She has denied an affair and painted her former boss as a manipulator.
Prosecutors are portraying Neuman as a man who knew right from wrong, and who developed a calculated plan to get rid of a romantic rival.
Testimony on Wednesday revealed that Andrea Sneiderman received about $2 million in life insurance benefits after her husband’s death.
The trial resumes at 9 a.m. Monday. Come back to Patch for continuing coverage.
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Colette France
10:44 am on Friday, February 24, 2012
I think Andrea S should be charge as an accessory to murder. I know she didn't pull the trigger, but her disgusting behavior led to the outcome. If nothing else Rusty's parents should file a suit against her for wrongful death.
Rees Chapman
12:50 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
Andrea is an extraordinarily passive-submissive woman who is too inhibited to act on any of her feelings. She becomes the target of Hemy’s sexual harassment, but she does not dare confront it or stop it, nor will she initiate any intimate interaction. Her passivity frustrates (& later infuriates) Hemy, who becomes even more compelled to force her to choose him over Rusty, which she will never do. Hemy’s increasing adamancy scares her, but also excites & affirms her, & while she recognizes that his fantasies & threats are becoming crazy, she will never challenge them.
Hemy talks nonsense to Andrea about their relationship, about their spouses & children, about their future. He actually believes little or none of it, but it makes him feel less impotent & helplessness in trying to provoke her into action. As she remains inert, he begins to act out his crazy ideas & threats.
When she hears that he hid out in their yard, planning to kill Rusty, she does not call the police, nor does she warn her husband - her response is “oh, my, that would be terrible. . . that would be wonderful. . .”
Rees Chapman
12:50 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
Perhaps he tells her he is going to shoot Rusty at their son’s daycare; if he does, she will never take any action to stop him. She avoids assuming any personal responsibility at all, & while she probably has feelings of apprehension, she dares not express them, or act on them.
When the call comes in that something bad has happened at her son’s daycare, she instantly knows what has transpired. That is why she tries to call Hemy multiple times, but never tries to call Rusty. As she’s driving there, & to the hospital, she realizes that her practiced passivity will no longer excuse her from charges of complicity; she’s suddenly desperate to protect herself, so she makes a few more calls, to friends & her father-in-law, but in her panic, she loses track of what she actually knows (& suspects), & what she must claim she knows. Later, as it dawns on her that she will likely be found out, she becomes suddenly proactive, & runs by her office to remove her computer from potential investigators.
Rees Chapman
12:51 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
Thus, it is difficult to argue that Andrea shares equally in Hemy’s guilt. She inadvertently provoked him to greater recklessness, & she failed to take any steps to prevent her husband’s murder, but she convinced herself - up until it occurred - that it was not her responsibility. She is strongly motivated to have Hemy seen as delusional, even insane, because that limits her culpability. I don’t regard her as guilty, but I certainly do not find her innocent.
Lilburn Lady
3:35 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
Here's the thing though, if Andrea convinced herself that it was not her responsibility up until it occurred, why then, would she not alert the police to the fact that she knew who killed her husband when she was questioned by the police? Did she really think that they would not uncover the truth? If someone that I knew killed my husband, I don't care who they were, I would turn them in immediately. Why did Andrea protect him? Was her "good reputation" more important than finding her husband's killer? Or was she making sure that she would appear innocent until she collected the insurance money? Yes, people may be in shock immediately after a horrible incident like this, but why not tell the police days later or a week later or during direct questioning? There's more to this story than we have heard or are likely to ever know, but one thing is clear, Andrea knew way more about this crime than she let on. Most people, faced with the fact that their actions or inactions directly contributed to their spouses death, would not be able to bear the guilt and would admit to what they knew. On the stand and in the courtroom, Andrea has not been passive, she has been very proactive in her actions with regard to any suggestion that she lied or misled the police. I find that very telling and it leads me to think that she is guilty of more than just allowing this to happen.
Rees Chapman
4:37 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
Lilburn Lady: I suspect Andrea is extremely passive, so much so that she avoids any responsibility-taking or proactivity. If a bomb threat was called in to her office, and she took the call, she would not leap to her feet, call out to her coworkers, or alert the police. She's probably get up quietly and leave by herself, or might sit there hoping it was just a hoax. Alerting police to Hemy's role in the murder would call far too much attention to her, and require her to submit to questioning regarding her own role. She preferred to sit quietly and hope nothing came of it. As you point out elsewhere, she left it to a child psychologist to break the news to the kids. If inaction is ever a viable choice for her, she goes with it. When you consider what "most people " would do, assume that is NOT what could be expected of Andrea.
Lilburn Lady
1:53 am on Saturday, February 25, 2012
Rees, Andrea stood up in front of an entire courtroom and confronted a witness in full view of the cameras (brushing off a courtroom bailiff who tried to intervene and grabbed the witnesses face, kissed her on the lips and wrapped her arms around her, refusing to let go. She does this in front of the jury and then walks out with the woman and once out of view of the jury and the courtroom, states, "you are not my friend any more". This is not passive behavior. This is manipulative, proactive behavior. For instance, when the judge told Andrea on the stand that she could not stay in the courtroom after her testimony, she confronted the judge and said, "no, I want to stay in the courtroom." If she had no discomfort confronting a judge in open court, brushing off a courtroom bailiff and ignoring the instruction of the prosecutor not to enter a witness room, how is it that you could identify her as being "extremely passive"? She has demonstrated arrogant, aggressive behavior with the judge, the bailiff and the prosecutor, yet wants the court to believe that she was completely under the control of her supervisor at work and was unable to confront him or rebuff his "unwanted" advances?
Rees Chapman
5:16 am on Saturday, February 25, 2012
Lil' Lady: I agree, and now see I was completely wrong about Andrea. I was basing my perceptions of her on her early media manifestations, and trying to make sense of why she 1) never reported Hemy's role in her husband's murder to authorities, 2) left Hemy to take the insanity rap, and 3) was never charged. Reading the details about her behavior on various "business" trips, on the way to and at the daycare, and on the way and at the hospital, and now in the courtroom, I'm baffled why she hasn't been named as a suspect. Perhaps this is some setup? Earlier, I found myself wondering if Hemy's seemingly bogus insanity plea wasn't concocted to somehow protect Andrea (when it became obvious that there could be very little doubt regarding his guilt), but that no longer fits the story. Still, I'm reminded of the old joke: Judge: in the charges of stalking, how do you plead? Defendant: insanity! Judge: you think you're insane? Defendant: I'm jus' crazy 'bout that girl. . .
Libra McKennie
9:34 am on Saturday, February 25, 2012
Lilburn Lady, you summed it up perfectly (argument why A.S. is definitely NOT a passive person). I could not agree with you more!
Donna Skipper
7:58 pm on Thursday, August 23, 2012
GUILTY, she is ! How else do you explain that SHE knew Rusty was SHOT, before anyone told her? GUILTY!!
Jane Stewart
2:56 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
All of this testimony from all of these people have been available to the DA all along. Why haven't they filed charges against Andrea if they believe she was an accomplice in any way? Why are they letting this play out in court as if it's some kind of soap opera of discovery? It's looking a bit like an episode of Perry Mason. All they need to do is show that Neuman is sane. He already said he did it. Then, file charges against Andrea and call these people to HER trial (which this is not).
Lilburn Lady
3:23 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
I think it will be difficult to prove what Andrea did or did not know prior to her husband's death. She probably deleted any and all emails from her work computer and as earlier testimony showed, GE did not archive emails that had been deleted more than about 30 days, so anything she erased from her computer is probably unrecoverable at this point. To my mind, yes, she was being unfaithful to her husband even if she never had sex with Hemy. She carried on an intense, secretive, romantic relationship with him for months and she could have stopped it at any time. Hemy was married too and she could have used that as leverage to keep him silent and keep her job. She could have also asked to be reassigned to another position or she could have found another job. She had many, many options and opportunities to do something and she didn't, thus, she didn't really want the affair to end. She does not strike me as all that passive. Her behavior in court is anything but passive. She strikes me more as a narcissistic, passive/aggressive and possibly sociopathic personality with little or no empathy for others. She is the manipulator here, not Hemy. I truly believe she used Hemy's affection to satisfy her own need for attention and the fact that it resulted in the loss of her husband was just (to her mind) an unfortunate side effect of the events that she allowed to spiral out of control.
Andrea DeLuca
11:05 am on Saturday, February 25, 2012
Jane I believe they had no proof about her lying that would hold up in court. Her sworn testimony will. I feel the lawyers both sides are trying to have her incriminate herself under oath which they can then use against her. I would not be surprised if after this trial they bring her up on some charges and Hemy takes the stand against her for a leaner sentence. And to those skeptics out their I have never watches and CSI.
Jane Stewart
3:17 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
If the officer wouldn't tell her what happened, why would the DA want to know if she was crying? All all women supposed to cry? Maybe she was too much in shock or too confused or too in denial to cry.
Lilburn Lady
3:43 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
Police officers and other law enforcement professionals have a lot of experience in notifying relatives of a loved one's death. Yes, people have varying responses to news like that, but many times, law enforcement can gauge whether a person is truly distraught or "play acting" by their body language, facial expressions and verbal response. Andrea knew that Hemy was on the verge of acting out in an irrational way because she knew he had been discovered lurking in the bushes at her house by her husband. She knew Hemy was unstable enough to commit murder, yet she did nothing. To my mind, she wanted it to happen, she manipulated Hemy to the point that it did happen and then she conveniently absolved herself of any and all responsibility for what transpired. To be that cold and calculating with regard to her husband's life, is it any wonder, she didn't cry when faced with his actual death?
Jane Stewart
3:48 pm on Friday, February 24, 2012
Well, Dr Waterman's (ER doc) testimony pretty much nixed most support for Andrea. The fact that she didn't cry when he told her her husband was dead, didn't ask what happened, just asked for a child psychologist to tell her kids is shocking!
Lilburn Lady
1:57 am on Saturday, February 25, 2012
Another response to Rees: Andrea is supposedly "extremely passive" yet her first inclination after her husband's death, is to tell Hemy to go and get her computer from work? That's not passive behavior, that's called covering your tracks.
Kay
12:08 pm on Saturday, February 25, 2012
I think the DA and police are getting their "ducks in a row" as far as Mrs. Sneiderm.an is concerned. Hopefully when...not if....she is charged, it will be an airtight case against her. What I REALLY want to know....why would she EVER .....get up on the witness stand? She has brought all this on herself by being so arrogant, condescending, and disrespectful to the whole court system. WHY would HER attorney EVER allow her to get up there and open up a huge can of worms??? It seems she would have been advised to plead the fifth amendment. She would have looked less guilty if she had not opened her obnoxious mouth. She probably thought she was so much smarter than anyone else, that she could pull it off. If she lied about one thing....how can you believe anything she has said?? A liar is a liar is a liar......
Batyarachel
3:21 pm on Saturday, February 25, 2012
From day 1 of this trial it was obviously that she was digging herself into a deep hole. I am now very suspicious of her in every way! She is far more manipulative than hemy-I am actually starting to feel sorry for him. She ruined his life, rustys life & her children's lives. Her due will come...
Kay
7:58 pm on Saturday, February 25, 2012
.....I am glad to hear someone else feels the same way. It sounds as though she orchestrated the whole thing. How did he know she would receive a huge insurance settlement had she not told him? It seems she baited him every way possible. For her to say.....if I weren't married I would be interested .....I am the beneficiary of a huge sum of life insurance....and to continue to lead Hemy on by wining, dining, trips, not to mention what else was going on between the sheets. By leading this man on....she is as guilty if not more so in my opinion. How in the world does AS sleep at night....and how does she feel about what she has done to her own children? Was it also reported she has not allowed Rusty's family to see the children? Maybe that side of the family will have custody when this is all over. We can only hope. I feel Hemy was played...like a deck of cards. What a pity for his family too.