Andrea Sneiderman will remain in prison for at least the next five months after a judge refused her request for bond.
The Dunwoody widow is currently serving a five-year sentence at the Arrendale State Prison in northeast Georgia after being convicted on charges of perjury and hindering the investigation into the November 2010 fatal shooting of her husband, Rusty, by her former supervisor at GE Energy, Hemy Neuman.
At Thursday’s bond hearing, Sneiderman’s new attorney, Brian Steel, argued that she passed all the tests required for an appeal bond. The state concurred that Sneiderman does not pose a substantial danger to the community and is not a threat to intimidate witnesses but disagreed that she is not a flight risk or that her appeal is not frivolous.
DeKalb Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Adams sided with the prosecution.
“There is no constitutional right to bond pending appeal,” Adams wrote.
The defense was unable to convince the judge that Sneiderman did not pose a flight risk or that her appeal was not frivolous. Her attorney, Brian Steel, argued last week that his client would never leave her children or uproot them.
“There is no evidence that she is a risk to flee,” he said.
Prosecutor Anna Cross said Sneiderman “has every motivation to evade and flee justice and she has the means to do it.”
“She has accepted no responsibility for her crimes,” Cross said.
Sneiderman could still get out of prison early. She’s eligible for parole in late April, according to Steve Hayes, spokesman for the Georgia State Board of Pardons and Paroles
‘While we are all disappointed in the ruling, the state has admitted that she is not a danger or harm to society,” Sneiderman’s friend, Joseph Dell, said in a statement. “We all hope that the parole board remembers that when they consider her case.”
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