Attorneys for Andrea Sneiderman on Monday filed a motion to dismiss 13 of the 16 counts contained in a reworked indictment against their client, arguing prosecutors failed to specifically address allegations she lied to police and concealed evidence that could have led to the capture of her husband’s killer.
Rusty Sneiderman was fatally shot in November 2010 by his wife’s boss, Hemy Neuman, who was sentenced to life in prison last March. Andrea Sneiderman has denied any involvement in her husband’s death.
According to the Dunwoody widow’s lawyers, the seven perjury counts against her are “vague, uncertain, indefinite and devoid of the specificity required by the due process clauses” of the state and U.S. constitutions.
“Each of the perjury counts in the indictment fails to adequately identify the issues surrounding the murder of (Rusty) Sneiderman,” the motion states.
Prosecutors allege Sneiderman failed to provide investigators with information that pointed to Neuman’s culpability in the shooting.
But Sneiderman’s defense team contends that DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James has not provided any specifics as to how she hindered the apprehension of a criminal.
“Count 4 … does not adequately apprise (Sneiderman) of the circumstances of any alleged commission of a crime sufficient to allow defendant to prepare a defense … and to protect her against double jeopardy,” their motion states.
The defense makes similar arguments on the four counts of giving false statements and the one count of concealing material facts. Sneiderman is also charged with felony murder, malice murder and aggravated assault.
In an interview last year with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Dunwoody Police Chief Billy Grogan said that as the case against Neuman took shape, investigators came to believe Sneiderman was lying about her relationship with her former supervisor. Lead detective Andrew Thompson, in a hearing before Neuman’s trial, said police didn’t zero in on the GE Energy executive because “we were being driven towards other avenues of investigation” by Sneiderman and her immediate family.
The mother of two, currently living with her parents in Johns Creek under house arrest, denies she was ever romantically involved with Neuman.
Sneiderman’s trial is scheduled to begin July 29, almost a year to the day of her arrest. The defense’s motion to dismiss will be heard April 4.
