DeKalb County

Defense rests in Hemy Neuman retrial; Closing arguments Monday

By Mike Petchenik, WSB-TV
By Mike Petchenik, WSB-TV

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — Closing arguments will begin Monday in the high-profile trial of Hemy Neuman, who admits he killed a Dunwoody father outside of day care, but claims he is not guilty by reason of insanity.

On Friday, a defense-hired psychologist told jurors that she doesn’t believe state mental health experts spent nearly enough time with Neuman to properly diagnose him or to conclude he’s faking mental illness.

Defense attorneys claim Neuman is bipolar and suffered from a delusion that he had to rescue Rusty Sneiderman’s two young children from their father, and the only way to do that, he contends, was to kill Sneiderman.

Dr. Adriana Flores testified that while she spent 18 hours evaluating Neuman in person, two doctors from Georgia Regional hospital only examined him for three hours.

“It would have taken a lot longer to do a comprehensive evaluation,” she told jurors.

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Flores, who was once an employee of Georgia Regional, told jurors bipolar disorder, which she believes Neuman has, is often missed because of incomprehensive analysis.  Flores said she spent nearly 200 hours on the case, interviewing friends, family and former co-workers, and told jurors her questions were more probative than the state doctors because they lacked the time to take a deeper look.

“If you're missing the pieces to the puzzle, it's not going to make sense. It's not all going to be there,” she testified. “If it's not all going to be there, you're not going to see what you really have."

Prosecutors allege that Neuman is “malingering,” or faking his mental illness and that his true motive for murder was to take Rusty Sneiderman out so he could continue an affair with his wife, Andrea Sneiderman, who worked for Neuman at G.E. Energy. Andrea Sneiderman has denied the affair. %

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Before the trial resumed Friday, Neuman’s defense attorneys again raised their objection to jurors hearing a jailhouse phone call Neuman made before his retrial began. In the call to his sister, Neuman can be heard talking about a man he described as “crazy” sitting on the bus with him from the jail to the courthouse.

"I win my case, he's the kind of guy I'm going to be with,” he said. "I told my lawyers, 'Well, better to have that for a few years than to have all these gangbangers and hardened criminals for the rest of my life.'"

Public defender Duana Sanson asked permission for Flores to be able to explain to the jury that if Neuman were found not guilty by reason of insanity if he would spend more than just a few years in the hospital.

“The jury has been given incorrect information about sentencing that could impact their verdict and severely prejudice Mr. Neuman,” Sanson told Judge Gregory A. Adams.

But prosecutors told the judge the jury would have to make up its own mind about Neuman’s intent in what he said.

"It's about the defendant’s motive to lie,” Deborah Venuto said. “His incentive to make up this insanity defense and his incentive to malinger."

Adams did not allow Flores to testify to the sentencing issue.

One legal observer told

Channel 2’s Mike Petchenik

that he believes that could be grounds for Neuman to appeal if this jury convicts him.

“It’s not so much whether that call came in but it’s the jury’s perception of what does not guilty by reason of insanity mean?” said attorney Sandy Wallack. “The judge has certainly invited the possibility of there being reversible error on that if the jury does convict Mr. Neuman.”

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