Andrea Sneiderman testifies in day care murder trial

Hemy Neuman may be the one on trial, but it was Andrea Sneiderman who was grilled like a suspect.

The first day of testimony in Neuman's trial for the murder of Sneiderman's husband, Rusty, featured Mrs. Sneiderman being harshly questioned by the prosecution, the side that called her to the stand.

Over and over, Assistant District Attorney Don Geary hammered Sneiderman about inconsistencies in the story she was telling on the stand and previous statements, along with emails.

Neuman, 49, is charged with killing Russell Sneiderman outside of the Dunwoody Prep Day Care on the morning of November 18, 2010, after Sneiderman had dropped off his two year old son.

Prosecutors allege Neuman was having an affair with Andrea Sneiderman, leading to the killing.

More Coverage: Dunwoody Day Care Murder

In testimony, Mrs. Sneiderman told how Neuman had professed his feelings for her in a poem. She said she told him that they were just friends. But, later, she testified that she told Neuman, her boss at General Electric, that she liked him and had fantasized about him.

She testified that she and Neuman had met in Colorado. But, when questioned by the police following the murder, she stated that she had not met Neuman there. Geary then questioned why, if indeed she and Neuman were just friends, did she ask the hotel staff to change her reservation from one person to two and why did she ask for a room with a bigger bed.

She admitted that, on a trip with Neuman that she claims was business, the pair went dancing. But, she says, that was simply because she was "a trained dancer and I rarely got a chance to dance much." When Geary asked how she could go out with a man who was not her husband and who had claimed to love her, Sneiderman had no reply.

Geary asked about an email she sent to Neuman, saying that, after what they had done she would need to repent for the rest of her life and her children's life. When Geary asked for what she would need to repent, Sneiderman replied, "we held hands."

Testimony also focused on the morning of the murder.

Sneiderman told how she received a call from Dunwoody Prep, informing her that there had been an accident.

The school told her that her son, Ian, was fine and that it was her husband who had been involved. But, she says, they never told her the nature of the accident.

As she drove to the school, she made several cell phone calls. Geary asked about the numbers she called, pointing out that she tried calling Neuman several times. She claimed that he was her boss and she called to tell him she would be out of the office,

When asked how many times she called her husband, Sneiderman answered, "Zero." Geary asked why, to which she testified, "They told me something had happened, so what were the chances he would answer?"

Later, Sneiderman explained that, while driving to the school she had been on the phone with her parents.

"They were keeping me company in the car," she said. "I was beside myself. There was no time to call Rusty."

On the night of January 4, 2011 Dunwoody police came to her house to tell her an arrest had been made. Geary played a tape of that conversation, asking why she never asked the police who was in custody.

Geary also asked why she sent an email to a friend on December 30, 2010, saying she knew that Hemy Neuman had killed her husband. But, Geary pointed out, she did not call the police to tell them.

When asked how Hemy Neuman might have the password to her laptop, Sneiderman quickly told the court that he would "stand over my shoulder every time I logged onto my computer. That's how he got my password. That's how he got the password to my garage door, which he opened many times. Stalkers do that"

The defense began their cross examination late in the day and will continue on day two.

During the first part of questioning by the defenseman Sneiderman acknowledged an email she sent to a friend in September 2010, two months before the murder which she admitted that she and Rusty were going through a "rough patch" in their marriage.

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