DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The man who admits he killed a Dunwoody father outside his son’s day care is back on trial for the second time.
Prosecutors told jurors Hemy Neuman donned a disguise and waited outside the Dunwoody Prep preschool in November 2010, then shot and killed the Harvard graduate as he got into his car.
Prosecutors contend his motive was to eliminate Rusty Sneiderman so he could continue an affair with Sneiderman’s wife, Andrea, his subordinate at GE Energy.
“This was a relationship that was flowers and wine and travel ... there was sex,” Prosecutor Anna Cross told jurors. “They were lovers."
Jurors heard testimony from several former Neuman co-workers who spoke of him confiding in them about his plans to leave his wife and his love of a younger woman.
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“He was thinking with a certain part of his anatomy and not his brain,” Human Resources Manager Orna Hanison testified she told Neuman upon learning of his relationship.
Prosecutors also presented evidence Monday of email exchanges between Neuman and Andrea Sneiderman in which they discussed their feelings, including one in which he said “marry me.”
Cross also read the jury a note Neuman sent to Sneiderman while she was on a business trip.
“Mr. Neuman asked the staff to write a note, which said: ‘For the sweetest and most beautiful woman on the world. Peaceful sleep knowing you are always in my dreams,’" Cross said.
A bartender from a hotel club testified she saw Neuman and Sneiderman dancing provocatively together.
“They were kind of grinding on each other,” said Christine Olivera. “Their bodies were rubbing against each other.”
Neuman’s defense attorneys, however, contend he suffers from mental illness brought on by a difficult childhood.
“Hemy grew up with an abusive, alcoholic father,” said public defender Duana Sanson.
Sanson told jurors Neuman imagined his relationship with Sneiderman was more than it actually was, and he suffered from delusions that he needed to protect the Sneiderman children from their father.
“That delusion, that belief that Rusty was a danger ... his mission to protect the children, is what led him to shoot Rusty Sneiderman,” Sanson said.
The Georgia Supreme Court overturned Neuman’s 2012 conviction last year, ruling jurors in the previous trial should have never seen medical notes and records from one expert.
Andrea Sneiderman has denied having an affair with Neuman. She served time in prison after another jury convicted her of perjury for her testimony during Neuman’s first trial.
Testimony continues Tuesday.
Cox Media Group
