Experts say Hemy Neuman Was Insane

Dr. Adriana Flores, the forensic psychologist who diagnosed Hemy Neuman as legally insane, returned to the stand Monday and testified for nearly six hours in defense of her findings.

Flores sparred at times with prosecutors who contend that Neuman is faking an ailment to escape spending the rest of his life in prison for killing Russell “Rusty” Sneiderman.

"He was delusional," Flores testified. "He was not reality based at the time.”

Neuman has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity in the killing of Sneiderman, who was gunned down in Sept. 2010 after dropping his child off at a Dunwoody daycare center.

Flores, who was retained by the defense in September 2011, told jurors that someone who is bipolar could be delusional and manic, but could also appear perfectly normal to co-workers.

"Delusional people will look normal ... just like all of us in this room," she said.

This echoes what she told jurors in nearly a full day of testimony Thursday, when she discussed how Neuman's traumatic childhood, growing up in a home with a sometimes abusive father, confirm her diagnosis.

Flores again said that she believes that Neuman, an executive at GE Energy Atlanta, was having an on-again, off-again affair with the victim's wife, Andrea Neuman. She said the yo-yo nature of the relationship that aggravated his delusional mind and made him dangerous.

Flores testified that Neuman told her that an angel appeared to him and told him that Andrea Sneiderman's children were in danger from Rusty Sneiderman, and that Neuman believed that he had to save them by killing Rusty Sneiderman.

A second forensic psychologist, Dr. Tracey Marks, took the stand late Monday for the defense. Marks came to the same conclusion as Flores -- that Neuman was delusional at the time of the shooting and that he couldn't distinguish between right and wrong.

Also Monday, DeKalb County District Attorney Don Geary gave the clearest hint to the prosecution’s theory of the case.

While cross examining Flores, Geary posed a hypothetical question: "If there was any evidence that, if there was a plan, that the two [Andrea Sneiderman and Neuman] worked on this together, would that change your opinion?"

Flores said that such evidence could change her diagnosis, but she hasn't found any such evidence.

Both the defense, led by Doug Peters, and the prosecution, led by Geary, contend that Neuman and the widow were having an affair. Neuman was her supervisor at GE Energy.

Andrea Sneiderman has denied having an affair. She hasn't been in court for more than a week because Judge Gregory Adams banished her after reports that she was interacting improperly with other witnesses.

The case will not resume until 9 a.m. Thursday.

No official explanation was given other than there are unrelated matters that require the judge's attention. Court staffers wouldn't specify, but word in the court hallways is that there was a death in the judge's family, which is also the reason court was abruptly cut short Friday morning.

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