What will happen to Andrea Sneiderman?
That’s the question some are asking following the Georgia Supreme Court’s announcement Monday that it had reversed the conviction of Hemy Neuman.
Neuman, Sneiderman's former boss, was found guilty but mentally ill in 2012 of the 2010 shooting death of Sneiderman's husband, Rusty.
The retrial “is going to be the Andrea show all over again,” Esther Panitch told the AJC’s Christian Boone. Panitch represented Neuman’s former wife, Reli ‚and, later, Rusty Sneiderman’s parents and brother.
“They [Andrea Sneiderman and Neuman] are forever intertwined,” she said.
Prosecutors have alleged Andrea Sneiderman was involved in her husband's murder, manipulating Neuman during an alleged affair.
Murder charges were subsequently dropped, and she was convicted on nine other felony counts, including four perjury charges.
Here is a timeline of her involvement, and subsequent conviction, sentencing and appeal, following Rusty Sneiderman's death.
Aug. 2, 2012: Andrea Sneiderman is indicted in the death of her husband and arrested at her Lake Oconee home. The indictment states that she “did with malice aforethought cause [his] death.” She had previously denied any involvement in her husband’s death and insists she was never romantically involved with Neuman, her former supervisor at GE Energy.
July 26, 2013: Murder charges against Andrea Sneiderman are formally dropped after a tumultuous hearing where defense attorneys accused the prosecution of overcharging the case to begin with.
Aug. 5, 2013: Opening statements begin in Sneiderman’s trial, where she faces 13 counts — seven charges of perjury, four charges of making false statements, and one count each of hindering the apprehension of a criminal and concealing a material fact in connection with the death of her husband.
Aug. 15, 2013: In spirited closing arguments, Andrea Sneiderman’s attorney, Tom Clegg, mocks the state’s case, two of its witnesses and the police investigation into the shooting of Rusty Sneiderman. Prosecutor Robert James points the finger directly at the defendant. “You’re a liar!” James said, approaching Sneiderman, who avoided eye contact. “You are a liar!”
Aug. 19, 2013: Andrea Sneiderman is convicted of nine of the 13 felony counts against her, for perjury and hindering the apprehension of a killer.
Aug. 20, 2013: DeKalb Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Adams sentences Andrea Sneiderman to five years on each count, to run concurrently. She soon announces she will appeal. “This is a fight Andrea Sneiderman is going to win,” said defense lawyer Doug Chalmers, who assisted on the appeal.
June 2014: Andrea Sneiderman is released from prison, and her lawyer said she is “vigorously pursuing her appeal.” Sneiderman will remain under parole supervision until the completion of her sentence in August 2017. Under the First Offender Act, her nine felony convictions will be erased if she does not commit another offense before her sentence ends.
Jan. 22, 2015: Andrea Sneiderman’s attorneys file a motion for a new trial, two days after lawyers for her husband’s killer made that case for their client.
Feb. 17, 2015: The judge who sentenced Andrea Sneiderman to prison denies her bid for a new trial, ruling that the evidence brought against the Dunwoody widow was “more than sufficient” to uphold her conviction.
June 15, 2015: Andrea Sneiderman’s attorney, Brian Steel, said she will not testify at Neuman’s retrial. Prosecutors in 2012 used Sneiderman’s testimony as evidence to bring murder charges against her. It’s unclear whether her perjured testimony will be admissible in the retrial.
