The murder trial that captivated metro Atlanta is going national, with "Dateline: NBC" and "20/20″ dedicating an hour apiece to the mystery that continues to deepen some 16 months after Hemy Neuman shot Rusty Sneiderman in the parking lot of a Dunwoody day-care facility.
Since last September, when Neuman changed his plea from not guilty to not guilty by reason of insanity, there's been no question as to who pulled the trigger. Why he did it remains largely unanswered, despite the DeKalb County jury's guilty but mentally ill verdict Thursday.
DeKalb District Attorney Robert James won't say whether his office plans to charge Sneiderman's widow, Andrea Sneiderman, in connection with her husband's fatal shooting outside a the Dunwoody Prep preschool on in Nov. 18, 2010. But attorney Jay Abt, who knows the D.A. well, said James, who implied during his closing argument that Andrea Sneiderman was a co-conspirator in her husband's murder, doesn't bluff.
"I'd be shocked if he doesn't charge her [with conspiracy],” said Abt, who represents Shayna Citron, Andrea Sneiderman’s former friend whose testimony marked one of the trial's most gripping moments.
It may also provide the foundation of a second trial in which Andrea Sneiderman is the defendant. Citron testified that Andrea, who was en route to the hospital at the time, told her Rusty had been shot. But Andrea Sneiderman testified that the call she got from the preschool said only that there had been an "accident" and she did not learn her husband had been shot until arriving at Atlanta Medical Center, where an emergency room doctor broke the news.
Andrea Sneiderman has denied she had anything to do with her husband's shooting. Her attorney, Seth Kirschenbaum, has said she testified during the trial to help the prosecution and did not believe her former boss was insane at the time of the shooting, calling it "a cold-blooded, premeditated murder."
So, as James said at a press conference after Thursday's verdict: "Stay tuned."
Meanwhile, Hemy Neuman is currently awaiting transfer to his new home at the Georgia Diagnostic and Classification Center in Jackson, where, barring successful appeal of the verdict, he will remain until his death.
Return to ajc.com to read more about the prosecution's thoughts about the trial that just ended and one that may follow. The defense's point of view will be in Sunday's AJC.
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