Now that she's been granted bond, Andrea Sneiderman begins the toughest fight of her life.
Friends say the mother of two — charged as a co-conspirator in her husband's murder — is ready for battle, conceding nothing.
"She wants to fight this," said Jeffrey Moss, a venture capitalist from Chicago and longtime friend of Andrea and her late husband Rusty Sneiderman. "She always felt like there was a desire by people to get her."
Sneiderman was granted a $500,000 bond Tuesday by DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Adams. She must post $250,000 in cash. The judge also ordered that if Sneiderman is released on bond, she must wear an ankle monitor and remain under house arrest at her parents' home in Roswell.
She is expected to be released Wednesday.
At her bond hearing, friends and family members spoke on her behalf, painting a different portrait of the 36-year-old widow than the one that has dominated media coverage since her testimony at the murder trial of her former boss, Hemy Neuman.
Neuman, a Marietta engineer, was found guilty but mentally ill and sentenced to life in prison without parole for fatally shooting Rusty Sneiderman outside a Dunwoody day-care facility in November 2010.
"Of all the young people we know, she has the largest circle of friends of anyone her age," testified her father Herb Greenberg. His daughter, dressed conservatively in a lavender blouse and black sweater, locked eyes with her dad, smiling as he spoke.
Subsequent character witnesses spoke of Andrea Sneiderman's devotion to her family, synagogue and community.
Friend JoAnne Powers called her the "best mother ever. Sometimes, I'm really amazed with her patience."
Sneiderman's defenders say she was prepared to be charged, though her actual arrest Aug. 2 at her Lake Oconee home caught her off guard.
"She did not even move. She just kind of looked up," said Elizabeth Stansbury, who was with Sneiderman that morning. "Herb said, 'The sheriff's here.' She said, 'You've got to be kidding me.' She didn't even move."
Her attorneys have made it clear they intend to mount an aggressive defense.
"I firmly believe that the more facts about this case that come forward, the more we're going to be able to show that Andrea is, in fact, not guilty," said defense co-counsel John Petrey, who insists his client was never romantically involved with Neuman, as has been alleged.
It's assumed the prosecution's case is largely circumstantial, based on evidence presented in the indictment, but Petrey said that doesn't necessarily make the defense's job any easier.
"I've gotten many convictions when I was a prosecutor on purely circumstantial evidence," he said in an interview last week. "The fact that its circumstantial doesn't mean it's weak, doesn't mean we can't do our homework, doesn't mean we can sit back and argue to a jury that it's only a circumstantial case."
DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James is not tipping his hand, declining comment, though discovery evidence expected to be filed next week should provide a more thorough preview of the state's case.
"The strongest asset our team has in this case [is] a genuinely innocent defendant that we're going to fight very hard to show everybody," Petrey said.
Sneiderman, scheduled to be arraigned Sept. 6, is expected to be an active participant in her defense.
"She was victimized by what Hemy Neuman did, and now she is being victimized by what the state did," Petrey said.
About the Author
