Andrea Sneiderman will have to wait at least one more day before learning whether a judge will grant her an appeal bond.
DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Adams delayed a ruling until receiving a proposed order from Sneiderman’s attorney, Brian Steel.
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.
If the appeal bond is granted, Sneiderman will end up serving less than four months of that sentence in prison. She would be placed under house arrest and reside with her parents at their Johns Creek home.
Friends and family filled the courtroom to show their support for Sneiderman, dressed in prison-issue orange togs, her legs shackled.
“She has value outside the prison system and she’d assist in her appeal,” said Steel, who argued that she meets all the requirements for bond.
The state agreed that Sneiderman does not pose a substantial danger to the community and is not a threat to intimidate witnesses. DeKalb County Assistant District Attorney Anna Cross disagreed that Sneiderman is not a flight risk or that her appeal is not frivolous.
“She has accepted no responsibility for her crimes,” Cross said. “She has every motivation to evade and flee justice and she has the means to do it.”
Steel said Sneiderman would not leave her two children or uproot them.
“There is no evidence that she is a risk to flee,” Steel said, adding that her children “are everything to Mrs. Sneiderman.”
Steel said Sneiderman has a part-time job and a volunteer position awaiting her if granted bond.
“That speaks to the character of Mrs. Sneiderman,” he said.
So does her conviction on nine felony counts, according to the prosecution.
“She does not feel bound by the rules that apply to everyone else,” Cross said.
Sneiderman spent nearly a year under house arrest after she was charged with conspiring to kill her husband in Aug. 2012. Those charges were dropped just before the trial commenced in late July. She’s seeking a return to house arrest pending an appeal of her conviction.
Earlier this week, Sneiderman reached a settlement with her former in-laws on a wrongful death suit filed in April 2012. Details of the agreement were not made available.
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