Day-Care Shooting: Victim's Wife Struggles Through Testimony

As I continue to update you on the Day-care Shooting here in Atlanta, I'm finding that the case keeps getting more interesting. The trial has been going on since Monday, and there have been several witnesses called by the prosecution. The most intriguing witness, of course, has been the victim's wife, Andrea Sneiderman. Andrea was drilled over the course of two days by both the prosecution and the defense. What was interesting about her testimony was that she adamantly denied having an affair with the alleged shooter, Hemy Neuman. She continued this denial even after being presented with emails between Neuman and Andrea, and after prosecution brought up her phone records which indicated numerous phone calls between Neuman and Andrea in the days leading up to and immediately following the shooting.

It seems odd to many that both the prosecution and the defense would be so hard on Andrea. The reasoning for the defense is likely that the relationship with Andrea is what triggered Neuman's psychotic break which led him to shoot the victim. As mentioned in an earlier post, Neuman's counsel is presenting an insanity defense claiming that Neuman believed an angel "told" him to shoot the victim, Rusty Sneiderman. The defense is likely to introduce evidence of Neuman seeing demons before the shooting implying that the angel who told him to shoot Rusty was another of those demons. The State, however, seems to be using Andrea's testimony to make it seem like she knew more about the shooting than she has led everyone to believe. While Andrea has never been charged with involvement in the shooting, prosecutors sure are making it seem like she knew it was going to happen.

Some of the evidence presented were phone records indicating 3 phone calls between Neuman and Andrea on the night before the murder. Also, within an hour after the shooting, she called Neuman 6 times!

Some of what Andrea stated on the stand has been contradicted by other witnesses. For instance, the prosecution called a number of witnesses that include hotel workers, bar tenders, and waitresses that witnessed signs of an intimate relationship between Andrea and Neuman. According to the witnesses, they were regularly seen entering and leaving the same hotel room on business trips. This directly contradicts Andrea's testimony that there was never an intimate relationship between her and Neuman. Today, the prosecution called a friend of Andrea's and the victim's father to the stand. Each testified that Andrea called him shortly after she was informed that something had happened to her husband. Andrea stated on the stand that the people who called from the day-care did not tell her what had happened. All they told her was that something terrible had happened and that she needed to go the the hospital right away. She testified that she didn't know her husband had been shot until she arrived at the hospital. The two witnesses called today tell a different story. Each tell the story that a frantic Andrea called each of them while in route to the hospital. During each of these conversations, Andrea told him her husband had been shot. Thus, the jury was presented with two different stories: one, that Andrea didn't know about the shooting until she got to the hospital; and two, that she called two different people in route to the hospital and told each of them her husband had been shot.

Once Andrea's testimony ended, the Judge reminded her that she was still under subpoena. It is believed that she will likely be called to the stand again before the trial ends. What everyone, including myself, will be watching for is if and when Andrea finally elaborates on the extent of her relationship with Neuman. While it is unlikely she will ever be prosecuted for any potential involvement, she is certainly putting herself in a dark light.

The trial was cut short today because of a fire drill, but will resume tomorrow morning at 9:30 a.m. I'll keep you updated!