Local

Investigator: Sneiderman erased texts from husband's killer

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — An investigator testified Wednesday that the Dunwoody widow accused of playing a role in her husband's murder erased text messages she received from the convicted killer and alleged lover.
 
Investigator Mark Potter testified that an FBI analysis of Andrea Sneiderman's work-issued Blackberry cellphone showed that Hemy Neuman texted her on Nov. 18, 2010, the day Neuman shot and killed Rusty Sneiderman outside his son's Dunwoody preschool.
 
"They would have to be physically deleted?" asked chief assistant prosecutor Anna Cross.
 
"Yes, ma'am," Potter testified.
 
Prosecutors believe Andrea Sneiderman was complicit in her husband's murder.
 
Testimony from Neuman's murder trial last year revealed that Sneiderman and Neuman, her former boss at GE Energy in Marietta, had communicated by phone 1,426 times in the six months leading up to her husband's murder. That included three calls the night before the shooting. On the day of the shooting, records showed Sneiderman tried to reach Neuman minutes after the murder.
 
On cross-examination, Potter said he couldn't discern what was in the allegedly erased texts.
 
"Do you have any evidence the text messages reveal any conspiracy between Andrea Sneiderman and Hemy Neuman?" asked defense attorney John Petrey.
 
"I have no idea what the content of the text messages was," Potter replied.
 
The testimony came as Sneiderman's defense again asked Judge Gregory A. Adams to dismiss 13 of the 16 charges in the indictment, arguing they are too vague.
 
Meanwhile, attorney Esther Panitch, who represents Rusty Sneiderman's family and Neuman's ex-wife, asked Adams to prevent Mrs. Sneiderman from obtaining communications between family members after Sneiderman's murder as well as the Neuman's marital counseling records.
 
"It's a fishing expedition at its best or worst," said Panitch.  "They are playing a game of twister."
 
Panitch argued the subpoenas were too broad and "oppressive."
 
"It's requiring them to relive the time that Rusty was killed," she argued.
 
During Neuman's trial, she testified that she didn't learn her husband had been shot until she got to Atlanta Medical Center.  But two witnesses, including Rusty's father Don, testified she called them with the information beforehand.
 
Petrey argued the information they are seeking is pertinent to their assertion that Hemy Neuman acted alone.
 
"We believe that evidence is going to show that Andrea Sneiderman knew about Rusty Sneiderman's death at the time she was told by authorities, not because she had any complicity with Hemy Neuman in the execution of Rusty Sneiderman," said Petrey.  "We believe the items we're seeking are relevant and go to the heart of whether there was participation by Andrea Sneiderman in the death of Rusty Sneiderman."