GA Supreme Court to Hear Dunwoody Day-Care Killer's Appeal

An appeal by Hemy Neuman of Dunwoody, the former GE Energy executive who said a demon told him to kill the husband of his mistress, will be heard by the Georgia Supreme Court.

A jury found Hemy Neuman guilty but mentally ill in 2012 for the killing of Russell “Rusty” Sneiderman after he dropped his son off at a Dunwoody child-care center. WSB TV reports Neuman’s lawyers will argue in his appeal that the conviction was based on perjury by his mistress, Andrea Sneiderman, the victim’s wife.

Judge Gregory Adams, who called Rusty Sneiderman’s 2010 death “an execution,” sentenced Neuman to the maximum sentence allowed -- life in prison without possibility of parole. Adams also imposed a five-year sentence for using a gun in the commission of a felony.

“Hemy Neuman was as good of a man who ever walked this earth until he met Andrea Sneiderman.” — Defense attorney Doug Peters after Neuman’s sentencing

The murder trial gripped the nation for more than a month, Patch reported, with Neuman dubbed the Dunwoody Day Care Killer. Both sides claimed that Neuman was having an affair with Rusty Sneiderman’s wife, Andrea Sneiderman, who worked for Neuman at GE.

Victim’s Wife Later Convicted

Andrea Sneiderman was convicted in August 2013 on nine of 13 charges that she lied on the witness stand during Neuman’s trial for her husband’s November 2010 shooting. She was found guilty on counts including hindering apprehension of a criminal, making false statements and concealing a romantic relationship with her former boss.

Neuman admitted killing Russell “Rusty” Sneiderman just after Sneiderman dropped his son off at a Dunwoody daycare center. Neuman, a former executive at GE Energy, pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. His lawyers presented evidence that he believed he was visited by an angel and a demon that urged him to kill Sneiderman.

“I am so, so, so sorry,” Neuman said at his sentencing. “I can’t say it enough. I am sorry from the deepest part of me, your honor. That’s all I have.”

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The widow testified in the case and admitted receiving $2 million in life insurance after her husband’s death. She denied having an affair with her boss and said she did not know of his plans to kill her husband.

Neuman’s defense attorneys, Bob Rubin and Doug Peters, said Andrea Sneiderman manipulated a mentally ill man into killing her husband.

“The entire truth has not been presented,” Peters said at the press conference after the trial. “Hemy Neuman was as good of a man who ever walked this earth until he met Andrea Sneiderman. ... Andrea Sneiderman should be charged with murder in the first degree. I think she preyed upon him and used him to commit the crime.”

Guilty but mentally ill brings the same sentence as a guilty verdict. It simply means that the Georgia Department of Corrections will be in charge of Neuman’s mental health care, if he receives any.

Rusty Sneiderman’s brother, Steven Sneiderman, said at the sentencing that the family had long suspected that Andrea Sneiderman played a role in her husband’s death.

“We know she lied about her involvement with Neuman,” he said in 2012. “We will have no peace until everyone involved in Rusty’s death is brought to justice. It is clear to us that Andrea is covered in Rusty’s blood. And there aren’t enough rabbis in the world to wash that blood away.”

PHOTOS: Convicted murderer Hemy Neuman, his purported mistress and convicted perjurer Andrea Sneiderman. Patch file photos

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