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Sneiderman's parents demand visitation or custody of grandchildren

DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — The parents of the Dunwoody day care murder victim want to be granted visitation of their grandchildren, or custody if necessary.
 
Don and Marilyn Sneiderman filed the petition in Fulton County on Wednesday, less than a week after a DeKalb County jury convicted their son's killer, Hemy Neuman, of murder. Their son, Rusty Sneiderman, was gunned down outside his son's preschool in November 2010.
 
Prosecutors believe Neuman was having an affair with their son's wife, Andrea Sneiderman. The widow has not been charged, but District Attorney Robert James said he is exploring that possibility, even calling her a co-conspirator in the killing.
 
"Prior to and subsequent to the death of the father, the grandparents had a loving, caring and consistent relationship with the minor children," said the petition, filed by attorney Randall Kessler.  "Subsequent to the father's death, the mother has unilaterally limited and most recently eliminated contact between the grandparents and the minor children."
 
The petition, obtained by Channel 2's Mike Petchenik, said that "failure to preserve said minor children's long-standing relationship with their paternal grandparents would be harmful to the minor children."

It asks the judge to appoint someone to investigate what's in the best interest of the children, Sophia and Ian, and to set a permanent schedule for the grandparents to see the children. It also asks the judge to decide whether to grant the Sneidermans custody of the children.
 
It also includes an email exchange between Don and Andrea Sneiderman, in which he asks to see the children while they were in town for Neuman's murder trial. On March 2, Don Sneiderman asked to visit the children for ice cream, but their mother declined.
 
"Unfortunately, we are not available this weekend.  You can try to schedule something for next weekend," Andrea Sneiderman wrote in the email.
 
Two weeks later, the elder Sneiderman wrote again, saying "This will probably be our last weekend in Atlanta for a little while. We would like to see Sophia and Ian on Saturday evening perhaps for ice cream again."
 
But Andrea Sneiderman declined again.

"Don, I am sorry but tomorrow just doesn't work with our schedule.  We will set something up whenever you can in the future. We just can't make it this weekend," she said.
 
Her attorney, Doug Chalmers, said she is not commenting on the petition.

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