Hemy Neuman suffered from Bipolar 1 Disorder “with psychosis,” a forensic psychologist who testified she spent more than 100 hours working on the case said Thursday.
Neuman is on trial in DeKalb Superior Court where he is charged with the Nov. 18, 2010 shooting death of Rusty Sneiderman outside a Dunwoody preschool. He has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Neuman believed he was the father of the Dunwoody entrepreneur’s two children, said Adriana Flores, the only witness called during Thursday’s abbreviated session. The children were in danger, Neuman believed, and it was up to him to protect them, she testified.
“He wanted to raise them with the mother of his children, Andrea Sneiderman, so they would not experience the kind of upbringing he and his sister experienced,” Flores told jurors, referring to testimony from Neuman’s sister about their father’s abusive treatment. “He loved Andrea and he believed she loved him.”
The Sneiderman children were born before Neuman had ever met their mother, who worked under him at GE Energy.
Neuman first had this revelation about the Sneiderman children in late July 2010, Flores said, when visited by what the doctor described as a “she-angel.” That night he arranged to meet Andrea Sneiderman in Longmont, Colo. where, Flores testified, he told his friend, “You know, if you search the world over there is no better father to [the Sneiderman children] than me.”
She replied, “That may be, but I made a commitment to Rusty and I’m not going to break it,” Flores said.
“She put up a wall,” Flores said, but not an impenetrable one. Their relationship over the ensuing months “was more push and pull … I want you, I don’t want you,” said the defense psychologist.
After the exchange in Colorado, she testified, Neuman's and Andrea Sneiderman’s relationship became more physically intimate, Flores said, and she often discussed her children.
Andrea Sneiderman expressed growing dissatisfaction with her husband’s parenting, said Flores, adding, “Andrea told him that they were shying away from Rusty.”
Soon after, she emailed hundreds of pictures taken at her daughter’s birthday party to Neuman, Flores said.
In the meantime, the Cobb County engineer told the psychologist he had been visited a second time by the apparition.
The angel told him, “[Rusty] is going to hurt them and you have to protect them,” Flores testified.
“As he’s driving he thought, ‘I had to kill him, I got my marching orders,” Flores told jurors. He described himself as “a missile that had already been fired.”
Testimony will continue Friday at 9 a.m. when the prosecution will have an opportunity to cross-examine Flores. The defense is expected to conclude its case early next week.
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