In early March 2011, the news media revealed detectives’ increasing suspicions of Andrea. “Investigation revealed that there was continuous communication between Andrea Schneiderman [sic] and the defendant before and after the homicide,” said a search warrant affidavit leaked to the press. According to the affidavit, investigators were seeking “information (historical) call detail records, and digital evidence of communication between the defendant and Andrea Schneiderman [sic] and any accomplices or witnesses, known or unknown to law enforcement … that would indicate planning, premeditation or collaboration to commit murder and/or any indication of participation in the murder of the victim.” The affidavit said while this communication was “not necessarily illicit” it “may reveal motive to murder him.”
Other news reports revealed that Andrea’s husband knew Hemy and that the pair had lunch at least once to discuss future business ventures. Then 11Alive news reported on an email Hemy sent Andrea around 2 a.m. on August 8, 2010—three months before the murder—titled: “Raising Good Kids Can Be Easy.” It listed what Hemy called his ten “principals [sic] for raising good kids,” and quoted Hemy with this signoff: “Andrea, that’s it for now, and I’m getting tired. Good night, Mon Ami and thanks for the inspiration.”
The heat was building on Andrea. Her attorney Seth Kirschenbaum told reporters, “We understand that this is part of the investigative process and we continue to cooperate with the DA’s office.” He stressed that the warrant didn’t indicate Andrea was actually involved in the murder, but he did confirm a number of earlier press reports, based on leaks, that Hemy and Andrea had traveled together on business trips to the UK and Colorado, the UK trip including plans for a castle tour, dinner cruise, and possibly a West End musical.
On March 7, Hemy’s wife had had enough. Just days after the first TV reports about the search warrant affidavit, Ariela filed for legal separation. The filing claimed cruel treatment and sought alimony and child support for the youngest of their three children, a seventeen-year-old daughter. It also alleged adultery. “We believe there was an extramarital relationship between Hemy Neuman and Andrea Sneiderman,” said her attorney Esther Panitch.
With a trial date looming, the onslaught of publicity posed a grave threat to Hemy’s hopes of finding an impartial jury. His attorney Doug Peters asked everybody involved in the case to stop making comments that “could unfairly prejudice one side or the other,” but Ariela’s camp had no inclination to let up. As part of the separation filing, Ariela’s lawyer asked the court for a subpoena for “any and all documents, records … or other tangible evidence of communications” between Andrea and Hemy from May 2010 to the present. Panitch also wanted to question both Hemy and Andrea, separately and under oath, in depositions. Hemy resisted, and so did the district attorney, the two adversaries in the murder case joining forces for the time being against Hemy’s estranged wife. On March 10, the DA made it official, asking the court for a protective order to shield it from handing over anything to Ariela. “The state objects to the production of the information sought by the plaintiff for two basic reasons: (1) that the information sought by plaintiff could be discovered through other means and (2) that the information could be released to the media,” wrote Chief Assistant DA Don Geary.
The DA’s motion, however, did acknowledge that the “state does possess material and information which responds to the plaintiff’s subpoena to produce.” In the second week of March prosecutors turned over to Hemy’s attorneys three thousand pages of documents as part of discovery. An inventory of the evidence, leaked to the media, included a sign-in sheet from Hemy on November 1, 2010, showing that he practiced shooting at Pannell’s Firearms in Woodstock; evidence of purchase of a .40-caliber Bersa pistol in April 2010—police had not recovered the weapon but had a ballistics report from the scene; reports from interviews with at least thirty people, including GE co-workers; details on how detectives tracked down the silver minivan; and twenty-one various supplemental reports. Among the evidence, according to the inventory, were “material and information” which “prove a romantic and/or physical relationship between the defendant and Andrea Sneiderman.”
Of these bankers’ boxes full of documents, none went to Hemy’s estranged wife. Panitch filed another motion, this one seeking “correspondence, memoranda, business notes, personal notes, greeting cards, gifts, gift recipient cards, internet use, web site registrations, web site postings, electronic and/or cellular communications” pertaining to Hemy. Also requested were “documentation,” “itineraries,” and “receipts” for trips taken by Andrea since May 2010 “whether as part of employment or for personal travel.”
With Hemy in jail and no longer working, Ariela had no choice but to press the issue, said Panitch. Returning to work as a teacher’s assistant, Ariela made a fraction of what Hemy had brought home, and now the family had fallen behind on the mortgage on their five-hundred-thousand-dollar home and feared foreclosure. Two of the children were in college, and tuition payments were coming due. Ariela claimed that while Hemy was locked up, she couldn’t even get access to the bank accounts to pay the bills. “Mr. Neuman was the primary breadwinner in the home,” Panitch told reporters. “He has access to funds which he has not given his wife access to.”
As the separation battle heated up and the prosecution’s murder investigation fell into place, Hemy made his second court appearance. Guards escorted him into the courtroom on April 4 to formally enter a plea to the charges in the indictment. Hemy had not been seen since his initial court appearance the day after his arrest. Wearing a dark suit instead of the jail uniform, he appeared thinner and grayer than four months earlier. He smiled at his attorney Doug Peters, who was wearing his traditional bow tie.
“We enter our plea of not guilty to those charges,” Peters said.
Hemy’s wife and children were not there, nor were any friends or co-workers. As always, Andrea didn’t attend.
At the hearing, District Attorney Robert James announced he was ready to go to trial but Peters asked for more time. “We’re very determined to study very carefully what the district attorney’s evidence shows,” the attorney said. James didn’t oppose the request. “I think some additional time would be reasonable in this case, given this is not your average murder case, I would just ask for a limited amount of time.” The judge set a trial date of October 17.
After the hearing, Esther Panitch continued to pound at Hemy. In remarks to reporters, she portrayed him as a deadbeat dad and nonsupportive estranged husband while his wife suffered financially and emotionally as she struggled to keep the family together. “Imagine waking up and having the police come to the door and say your spouse is accused of murder when they’ve never had a history of any criminal activity. It’s devastating,” Panitch said. “She is doing as well as can be expected under these horrific, awful circumstances.” Hemy, she said, had not even seen his children since his arrest.
In his own statements to reporters, Peters acknowledged that Hemy had not seen his children but claimed they had corresponded. Calling Hemy a “very committed, loving father” who had “always had” his children’s interests “utmost in his mind,” Peters said, “He’s been a great father. He’s had an entire life of providing for his children. He’s doing all he can now to remain being a good father.” A matrimonial attorney, Joseph Winters, had been added to Hemy’s legal team but declined to comment, saying the publicity “only adds to everyone’s pain.”
Two months later, in May, lawyers for Hemy and Ariela appeared in a different court. What normally would be a routine meeting in the divorce action turned contentious as Panitch accused Hemy of tying up tens of thousands of dollars from his retirement accounts. Winters shot back, “This is a waste of time, money, and assets for everyone concerned.” He claimed that what money Hemy had left all went to his family. Panitch said that was not true. “He is a liar. He wrote an email saying, ‘I have a poker face. I lie’”—a reference to Hemy’s email announcing their separation. “His word means nothing.” Claiming Hemy had hidden his money, Panitch said, “I need to be able to find the assets.”
When Panitch again sought a subpoena of the entire investigative file, Andrea’s attorney Seth Kirschenbaum stood up to object. “No one on this earth wants [Neuman] convicted more than my client,” he said. He accused Ariela and Panitch of being “motivated by vindictiveness” and blasted Ariela’s ongoing efforts to depose Andrea. Kirschenbaum accused Ariela and her attorney of tactics “designed to embarrass and humiliate” Andrea. This prompted Panitch to suggest that Hemy’s lawyers were joining forces with Andrea’s to stymie the divorce proceeding and to save Andrea’s hide.
Fulton County Superior Court judge Margaret Dorsey had finally heard enough. Saying that she too was “a little bit concerned” about what impact Ariela’s requests would have on the murder trial, the judge put Andrea’s deposition on hold. The case file would remain only for the eyes of the DA and Hemy’s lawyers.
The rhetoric proved to be the last gasps for all sides. Days later, lawyers reached a deal in which Ariela would have access to the family’s financial records and what was left of their dwindling assets. According to court papers, the family had fallen behind on the mortgage and Hemy had to borrow three hundred thousand dollars from his mother, the funds presumably going to his legal bills because none was given to his wife and children. Hemy’s lawyer griped that Ariela merely accepted “the same offer we made several months ago,” but Ariela was satisfied. “She’s relieved this part of this is finally over,” Panitch said. “She looks forward to having the assets turned over so she and her children can continue to live.”
The deal also gave Ariela leverage against Hemy if he didn’t deliver. By not formally filing for divorce, only separation, she remained his legal wife, leaving the decision in her hands whether or not to testify against her husband, Atlanta law saying that a wife could not be compelled to do so. Said Panitch, “It’s a question of when it’s best for her.”
* * *
Overlapping the marital dispute was a scrimmage in criminal court over publicity and evidence. On Tuesday, May 17, 2011, Dick Williams of the Dunwoody Crier found himself thrust into the middle of the Sneiderman murder story when he was called to testify at a pretrial hearing by Hemy’s attorneys. His own paper would later report that Williams was “somewhat startled and confused” by his subpoena, though the defense’s intention became clear. Hemy’s lawyers were seeking to show that the vast publicity in the case had prejudiced Hemy’s chances for a fair trial and that the judge needed to impose a gag order and continue sealing documents. Although many court papers had been filed under seal, the case had been an information sieve to the detriment of Hemy. Only Hemy’s statements during his questioning had remained under wraps, and his lawyers wanted to make sure that they stayed that way. The Atlanta media, including the lawyers for Cox Media, which owns the Atlanta Journal-Constitution and WSB-TV, objected. They wanted the judge to unseal previously sealed court papers, including pretrial motions, which often are made public.
Williams was called to show how saturated the region had become with news about the Sneiderman killing. In his testimony, the publisher noted that for the Crier the case was in fact close to home, literally, as the shooting occurred across the street from the newspaper offices. Williams himself went to the scene shortly after it happened. “Since then we have assigned one reporter to cover this case until it is wrapped up,” he said. He told his staff that the case was the “highest-priority story going forward.” The Dunwoody Crier alone had published fourteen articles in the paper and online, a huge amount for a weekly.
“Based on emails, phone calls, and my experience in the business, this is a case that has caught the public fancy,” Williams said under questioning from defense attorney Robert Rubin. “The fact is that my discussions at lunch and my own staff can’t get enough information about it … that is how many news judgments are made.” The case had received widespread coverage from much larger outlets, but the Crier wouldn’t back down. “I don’t want to get beat,” he said.
Those larger outlets were at the hearing in force. So many lawyers showed up to represent the Cox media outlets that District Attorney Robert James gave up his counsel table to them and quietly sat in the back of the courtroom. The judge put off a decision, keeping the investigative documents sealed for now. It was for Hemy’s team a small victory, and one they’d have little time to savor, for more trouble was coming Hemy’s way.