Andrea Sneiderman, speaking through her attorney, said Thursday she believes Hemy Neuman is guilty of killing her husband outside a Dunwoody day care facility last fall.
"No one on this earth wants [Neuman] convicted more than my client," said attorney Seth Kirschenbaum, responding to a suggestion by Esther Panitch, who represents Hemy Neuman's estranged spouse, that he was colluding with the alleged killer's attorneys.
Kirschenbaum denied Panitch’s assertion, saying there's not "one shred of evidence" to support it.
In her only previous statement about her husband's death Sneiderman said she was "assured by the DeKalb County District Attorney's Office that Mr. Neuman is Rusty [Sneiderman]'s killer," referring to her former supervisor at GE Energy as a family friend. Kirschenbaum would not say whether his client thought Neuman was guilty in earlier exchanges with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
The admission came during a contentious hearing involving the Neumans' separation suit that also attracted lawyers from the criminal case. Panitch had subpoenaed DeKalb County Chief Assistant District Attorney Don Geary along with the prosecution's "complete investigation file" in the Sneiderman case. She contends that evidence confirms an affair between the widow and her husband's alleged killer.
The prosecution has been a bit more circumspect. In late February, investigators, seeking to obtain a search warrant of email and cell phone records between Hemy Neuman and Andrea Sneiderman, told a DeKalb judge the former co-workers were in "continuous communication" before and after the Nov. 18 shooting.
That information, while "not necessarily illicit," according to the district attorney, "may reveal motive to murder [Rusty Sneiderman]."
Panitch said establishing proof of an affair is crucial as she contends some of the couple's joint assets were spent on Andrea Sneiderman.
But Joe Winter, representing Hemy Neuman in the separation case, said the alleged affair is irrelevant to the issue of financial support. Winter moved to quash subpoenas sought by Panitch for the district attorney, Sneiderman and a Dunwoody realtor close to Hemy Neuman.
"This is a waste of time, money and assets for everyone concerned," Winter said, adding he was concerned the separation suit might hamper his client's ability to receive a fair trial in the criminal case.
"I'm a little concerned about that, too," said Fulton County Superior Court Judge Margaret Dorsey, who presided over Thursday's status conference hearing that spawned an unlikely alliance.
Kirschenbaum agreed with Winter that Andrea Sneiderman's testimony in the separation suit was unnecessary, saying it's "designed to embarrass and humiliate" his client. "We think [Ariela Neuman] and [Panitch] are motivated by vindictiveness," Kirschenbaum said.
Sneiderman's deposition, scheduled June 21, was put on hold until a hearing is held on the motions to quash by Winter. The subpoenas for the district attorney and the Dunwoody realtor, Melanie White, were also shelved pending a judge's ruling.
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