The murder trial in the Dunwoody daycare shooting that initially was expected to last four to six weeks will likely conclude in half that time.
That's a testament to a consensus between the prosecution and defense as to Andrea Sneiderman's relationship with her boss, Hemy Neuman, who shot the woman's husband four times in the parking lot of Dunwoody Prep in November 2010.
Defense attorneys were prepared to wrap up their case Friday, but testimony was postponed by DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams for an undisclosed issue unrelated to the trial. Assuming the proceedings resume Monday as scheduled, it's likely jurors will receive the case on Thursday.
They'll have plenty of evidence to digest, as each day has been full of sometimes salacious revelations, many involving Rusty Sneiderman's widow. Neuman has acknowledged shooting the husband of his former charge at GE Energy but has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Here's a rundown of the first eight days of a trial that has captivated observers around the country.
Day 1: Andrea Sneiderman is grilled by the defense and prosecution, with both sides hammering away at her assertion that she was not romantically involved with the man who killed her husband.
“I’m a pretty wholesome individual,” said Sneiderman, 39, the first witness called by the DeKalb County District Attorney’s office. “There was no affair."
She testified that Neuman manipulated her to "care about him. He was very good at manipulating everyone around him.”
So was Andrea Sneiderman, said defense lawyer Doug Peters who, quoting a friend of Neuman's, said the 39-year-old mother of two played Neuman "like a yo-yo."
Sneiderman had no explanation as to why, after finding out her husband had been involved in some sort of accident, she called Neuman six times but never phoned her spouse.
Day 2: More tough questions are posed to Andrea Sneiderman after she testified that, on Dec. 30, 2010, she came to believe Neuman was the shooter.
Why did she wait nearly a week to tell Dunwoody police? she was asked. Sneiderman said she feared Neuman was monitoring her emails.
Prosecutor Don Geary accused her of "protecting the defendant," stating she had led investigators "down a rabbit hole."
The Dunwoody widow continued to deny allegations of an affair. She said she never did anything beyond holding hands with Neuman.
That claim was rebutted by a witness at a Greenville, S.C. nightclub where the two were spotted in late October 2010 -- less than a month before Rusty Sneiderman’s murder.
“They looked like a couple, groping, touching each other,” said waitress Christine Olivera, who was called by the prosecution. “I know, because I kind of turned away.”
Day 3: Bombshells abound. Andrea Sniederman's father-in-law Don Sneiderman, and a close friend of the widow, Shayna Citron, contradict the woman's claims that she did not know her husband had been shot until she arrived at Atlanta Medical Center.
The witnesses, called by the prosecution, implied through their testimony that Andrea Sneiderman had prior knowledge of the shooting. Each said that Andrea called them and told them Rusty had been shot though she was not yet at the hospital.
"Mrs. Sneiderman knew she was going to get beaten up on the witness stand," her lawyer, Seth Kirschenbaum, said in a statement provided exclusively to the AJC. "[She] has always cooperated in this case, and she wanted to help the prosecution even if it meant being subjected to withering attack."
Day 4: Before testimony resumes, DeKalb Assistant District Attorney Geary moves to have Andrea Sneiderman barred from court after her behavior the day before.
Geary accused the woman of interfering with witnesses, saying she hugged Citron after her testimony and then, according to the witness, delivered what she interpreted as veiled threat.
The defense did not object to the prosecution's motion. Judge Adams ordered Andrea Sneiderman out of the DeKalb courthouse for the remainder of the trial.
The victim's brother, Steve Sneiderman, issued a brief statement saying, "Andrea’s behavior ... has been deeply troubling to our family for some time"
Though banished from the courtroom, Andrea Sneiderman still figured heavily in the day's testimony, much of which focused on the day of the murder.
Emergency room doctor Mark Waterman said he told Sneiderman her husband had been shot four times and killed. The physician described her reaction to the news as unemotional and "unusual to say the least."
"Her first request was to ask for a child psychologist so that person could inform her children of their father’s passing," Waterman testified.
Day 5: Jurors finally hear from the defendant, Hemy Neuman, as prosecutors play the entirety of his five-hour-plus interview with Dunwoody police on Jan. 4, 2011. That interview ended with Neuman's arrest.
Investigators had zeroed in on Neuman after discovering he had rented a silver Kia Sedona matching the description of the vehicle seen speeding away after the shooting.
Neuman divulged little to the two detectives who interrogated him. He denied he was the shooter. Asked about his relationship with Andrea Sneiderman, Neuman said he found her attractive and told her so, but she “basically said no." They remained friends, he said, but that was it.
Day 6: Before the prosecution rests, they call an FBI cell phone analysis expert, who tells jurors that, during a seven-month period in 2010, Andrea Sneiderman placed nearly twice as many phone calls to Neuman than she did to her own husband.
It was also revealed that Neuman had become more forthcoming with police the day after his arrest.
“I want to end the circus,” defense attorney Bob Rubin quoted his client as saying on Jan. 5, 2011. “I want to get this over with so people can get on with their miserable lives."
Day 7: "Our defense in this case is, first of all, [Hemy Neuman] is sick," attorney Doug Peters says. "Secondly, that he has been manipulated by Andrea Sneiderman."
Forensic psychologist Dr. Julie Rand Dorney testified that Neuman compared himself to King David and Andrea Sneiderman to the Biblical character’s paramour, Bathsheba.
“As that relationship evolved, [Neuman] became more and more consumed by it but depressed at the same time,” Dorney said. “At points he said he had sex with this woman, and then I’d ask, and he’d say, ‘I don’t know if it’s true.'"
“He seemed to be all over the place,” she said, adding Neuman appeared to have symptoms of a “psychotic disorder” and that he was possibly driven by “obsessive thoughts.”
Jurors also heard from Neuman's sister, Monique Metsch, who testified that their father, a survivor of the Auschwitz prison camp during World War II, was abusive and distant.
Day 8: Hemy Neuman believed he was the father of Andrea Sneiderman's two children, said forensic psychologist Adriana Flores, testifying for the defense. He also believed the children were in danger and it was up to him to protect them, she testified, diagnosing Neuman with Bipolar 1 Disorder "with psychosis."
“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. "He loved Andrea, and he believed she loved him.”
Neuman arranged to meet Andrea Sneiderman in Longmont, Colo., where, Flores testified, he told her, “You know, if you search the world over there is no better father to [the Sneiderman children] than me.”
Sneiderman told him she was not going to leave her husband, Flores said, but in the ensuing months, she shared more details about her children and their relationship with their father.
According to Andrea, her young son and daughter were "shying away from Rusty," Flores testified, emboldening Neuman to carry through with his plan to kill the Dunwoody entrepreneur.
Flores will be back on the stand Monday, where she will be cross-examined by the prosecution.
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