Return to Transcripts main page
Jane Velez-Mitchell
Did Infidelity Lead to Murder?
Aired July 22, 2013 - 19:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JANE VELEZ-MITCHELL, HOST: Breaking news tonight. There is a massive -- and I mean massive -- new development tonight. It just broke moments ago as prosecutors furiously prepare to drag an alleged black widow to trial just days from now.
Cops say a twisted secret love triangle led a mother of two young children to pull off the cold-blooded and calculated murder of her own husband, the father of her own children. Police say Andrea Sneiderman masterminded this evil execution of her clueless husband, who was killed right outside their kids` daycare. Detectives say Andrea convinced her lover, who was also her boss, to pull the trigger.
Good evening. I`m Jane Velez-Mitchell, coming to you live from Atlanta, Georgia, precisely where this vicious killing took place, as we count down to judgment day.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any idea why the defendant would have these feelings for you?
ANDREA SNEIDERMAN, CHARGED WITH HUSBAND`S MURDER: No.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you ever tell Rusty about the poem or the defendant`s feelings?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you find out that Rusty had been shot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She called and said Rusty had been shot. She was so, so sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why didn`t you call Rusty?
SNEIDERMAN: Because they just told me something happened to Rusty. What are the chances that he`s going to answer his cell phone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sophia and Ian`s daddy`s blood is on the hands of Andrea Sneiderman.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Andrea Sneiderman`s husband, Rusty, was gunned down execution-style as this doting dad dropped off their two preschoolers, a boy, a girl, at a Georgia daycare. When Andrea was told the killer her boss and alleged lover, Hemy Neuman, she acted shocked and appalled. Here is her performance on the witness stand.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SNEIDERMAN: It was unfathomable and unbelievable that it could be him. Someone that proposed to care about me. Care about Rusty. Care about my family. Be a normal guy, be my boss. He murdered my husband.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: According to cops, her shock was all a big act. A phony act. They say that Andrea was at the center of the plot to kill her husband, and she used her lover, Hemy, as a pawn in her twisted game.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The gun in this case was in Hemy`s hand. But the trigger, I respectfully suggest, was pulled by Andrea Sneiderman.
Sophia and Ian`s daddy`s blood is on the hands of Andrea Sneiderman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Do you think cops are right, or could Andrea have been an innocent somehow in all of this? I want to hear from you. Call me: 1-877-JVM-SAYS, 1-877-586-7297.
Now, I told you there`s a breaking news. This paper is still hot in my hands. Let`s go straight out to reporter Jon Lewis from WSB for the very latest. I understand that everything now is up in the air. Tell us.
JON LEWIS, REPORTER, WSB (via phone): Well, that`s correct. They may actually -- the district attorney may be dropping the two murder charges and an aggravated assault charge against Andrea Sneiderman.
Remember, jury selection in her trial begins a week from today. They are considering doing so. The charges that were named in the indictment still stand, at least for now. But again, the district attorney is considering dropping the felony murder charge and the malice murder charge against her, along with an aggravated assault charge. Here in Georgia that`s considered an attempted murder charge. They don`t have that statute. But attempted murder is aggravated assault.
And it all stems from the November 18, 2010, killing of Rusty Sneiderman. He was shot to death outside the Dunwoody Prep Day School. He had dropped his 3-year-old son off for daycare, gotten back into his car, and as he was getting back, a van pulled up. The driver of the van got out and started shooting. Four shots, each one closer than the one before. The last shot flush to Rusty Sneiderman`s neck. Then the driver of that van gets in and drives away.
It turns out, as we heard earlier, the driver of that van turned out to be Hemy Neuman, who was not only Andrea Sneiderman`s boss at General Electric but, according to e-mails, the two of them had been having an affair.
Now, Andrea has denied that. But it`s what police have hung their hat on, saying this is why he did it, because she manipulated him. But as we just heard, they may drop the charges, and she may end up not having to face murder charges when her trial starts in a week.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, gee, why? I mean, why a week before jury selection do prosecutors suddenly turn around and say, "Oops, never mind"?
Jon Lewis, we`re going to debate this in our Lion`s Den in a second. But do you have any inside information on why they would have this change of heart, when they painted this woman as a monster?
LEWIS: Well, I don`t know why seven days before the trial they decided to possibly drop the charges, when in truth we weren`t sure why they even brought the charges up. And I`ll say it this way.
To prove her guilt of murder, you have to prove that she conspired to commit this murder, conspired with Hemy Neuman. Now Neuman was convicted last year. He was found guilty but mentally ill. Throughout the entire trial he claimed she had had nothing to do with it. He killed, Hemy Neuman, he said, because he was trying to protect her children. But he has maintained she knew nothing about it; she did not have any role in this. She did not take part in planning it, nothing.
So if the gunman, the man who pulled the trigger, continues to say she did not do it, the question we as reporters have had the whole time is how are you going to prove she did when the man who pulled the trigger says she didn`t? It just seems like a very flimsy case for murder if the gunman is saying it`s not...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: But he`s a nut job!
LEWIS: Well, you know what?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: He`s in a loony bin! He was found guilty but mentally ill. He was saying that he was hearing voices that were Barry White and Olivia Newton-Jon singing to him. And he was trying to decide whether to listen to Olivia Newton-Jon or Barry White.
Now, some people thought it was a big phony, that he`s as sane as can be, and he was acting crazy so that he could get sent to what`s considered plush, a mental hospital prison ward, as opposed to another kind of prison. And he managed to pull that off.
There`s Andrea crying her eyes out. Oh, wow.
Now, a lot of people, including the prosecutors, had said previously that this was a big act, that those tears you`re looking at right there are a huge act.
Let`s go straight out to the Lion`s Den. What the heck is going on with this prosecution? They were going to take her and take her to justice. We`re doing a countdown to judgment day, and then all of a sudden, oops, never mind. Nothing to see here, Jon Leiberman.
JON LEIBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: Jane, we have learned tonight that Andrea Sneiderman`s defense team was actually planning on calling Hemy Neuman to the stand in this case. And they still plan to do that. And that`s a huge, huge stumbling block for the prosecution, because here you have the man who they say is the co-conspirator with Andrea Sneiderman, and the government can`t even call him, the state, for their case, because he`s going to testify that she had nothing to do with it.
Beyond that, the state`s case is very circumstantial. They believe she`s a liar. They believe she mischaracterized the nature of her relationship with Hemy Neuman and lied about a couple of other details.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, let`s just say...
LEIBERMAN: But that`s a far stretch to the murder.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... this. He may still be in love with her.
Prosecutors say this wasn`t just a casual affair. This wasn`t a one- nighter between Andrea and Hemy. They say these two used the excuse of business trips to travel together and make nookie all over the country and even in London, and when they got overseas they got particularly raunchy. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: What did you say when he told you that they had done everything but have sex, and she actually went in the bathroom and masturbated?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I told him to leave her alone.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And how did he respond?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That they became very much closer, and they -- he didn`t say he was going to leave her alone or not leave her alone. He just -- went into how close they got and how they could finish each other`s sentences, and that was about it.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did they appear to be in love you to you?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I would say yes. That`s my answer. That was a co- worker of these two.
Andrea said the furthest she and Hemy got physical was holding hands. Yes, right.
I`ve got to go to Wendy Murphy, former prosecutor.
Look, sometimes these prosecution teams, you know, do crazy things. You`re a former prosecutor. Why on earth, since reporters have been talking about this for the longest time, do they decide now, oops, a week before, when we`re revving up for justice, "Never mind, nothing to see here"?
WENDY MURPHY, FORMER PROSECUTOR: Yes. Well, I mean, I think we can tell what`s going on here. And by the way, did you call it nookie? I`m just...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes, I did. I did.
MURPHY: That`s like -- you know, that`s "The Newlywed Game" lingo. You`re giving away your age, Jane. Nookie? Anyway. I digress.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what? I`m sure you could use a phrase, but we`d probably have to bleep you. Proceed.
MURPHY: That`s true. I think what we`re watching -- we`re watching a rather typical squeeze play. Look, they have tried very hard to get this guy to roll on his lover. And sometimes prosecutors hope against hope that, if things get to the morning of trial, that the guy will do what he`s got to do.
They had very good reason to believe that the -- you know, Hemy, the nut, in -- in the hospital, faking mental illness for the rest of his life behind bars, I don`t know why he`s protecting her, because they`re never going to have nookie again. But they know that she probably was conspiring with him, because they had phone calls with each other right before the murder.
And very importantly, as she was on the way to the hospital after she got the call that her husband was in an incident, and she didn`t know whether it was a gunshot or not, she told at least two people that her husband had been shot and she was on her way to the hospital. That`s very strong evidence that she planned it with Hemy, that she knew it was going to be a gun. So they had a good faith basis to continue.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, I guess these two...
MURPHY: ... case beyond a reasonable doubt without him.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: ... are not like Jodi Arias and Travis Alexander, who exchanged something like 82,000 messages between them, because I would think that, if they were having an affair, they would have some kind of electronic trail that prosecutors could use.
And the fact that they -- they`re now considering dropping the charges, you`ve got to wonder: maybe she didn`t have any idea. I mean, let`s give her the benefit of the doubt. That`s what our legal system is supposed to do. Although a lot of people say she`s a bad actress.
Ross, Michigan, your question or thought. Ross, Michigan.
CALLER: Hi, yes. I personally believe that Andrea Sneiderman orchestrated this whole thing. The fact that she told people it was a gunshot before knowing it was a gunshot, it is mind-blowing. It`s crazy. And she -- she`s a liar. She`s fake. Her demeanor in court, it is -- this is all planned out. This is all planned out.
And the fact that the killer knew exactly where her husband was going to be couldn`t -- nobody could have gave him that information besides Andrea Sneiderman.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, you, Ross, are making some very good points that a prosecutor might want to make an opening statement. However, we`re hearing now from WSB a report that they may just throw the most serious charges right out the window.
Now, according to their own words, would that mean that they are letting someone who did something unthinkable to the father of her children walk free? Or is she innocent?
On the other side of the break, a very special guest: the attorney for Andrea`s ex-BFF. The woman that she grabbed in the court and hugged in a manner that the friend, the ex-friend, considered threatening.
We`ll be right back with that.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SNEIDERMAN: I pulled up in my vehicle to caution tape and police cars and Rusty`s car but no Rusty. I fell out of the vehicle. I was picked up by I don`t know who. And taken inside. No one was talking. No one was saying a word. No one would tell me what happened.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
SNEIDERMAN: After every time we spoke to each other, it was as if he was my best friend. Any time I spoke to him and said to him, "You know, this is inappropriate" or had a verbal conversation, "Oh, I understand. I respect your marriage." Yet jab at my marriage, jab at my marriage, jab at my marriage. That`s what he liked to do. Oh, but "Yet, I respect you. You`re a good mother."
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And we`ve got breaking news just in. Hot off the presses. WSB reporting that woman you just heard from, well, they may drop the most serious charges against her, including felony murder, malice murder and aggravated assault.
They had described her as the puppet master who engineered and manipulated her lover, who was also her boss, into executing her husband, the father of her two pre-school kids. But now, suddenly, the prosecution is getting cold feet. According to this, they may drop those charges, and we`re talking days before jury selection.
Let`s go out to the phone lines. Art, Pennsylvania. Your question or thought? Art?
CALLER: Yes. Hi. In the book "Unbelievable," the book dot com, there`s listings of different ways why people kill. Wasn`t there a large insurance policy taken out by her recently for her husband?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, thank you for that question. Let`s throw that to Jon Lewis, reporter, WSB Radio. What do you know, Jon?
LEWIS: Well, she actually collected. It`s kind of interesting. She got $2 million in the life insurance policy on her husband, Rusty. That was paid to her by the Northern Trust Company.
But what`s funny is -- and not funny ha-ha but funny strange -- two days after receiving the insurance check and presumably a day after cashing it, she then went to the police and said, "Oh, by the way, you may want to check Hemy Neuman`s alibi for the murder."
Now, for the first month and a half after the killing she never even had heard of Hemy Neuman. She deflected police away from him. But then, after she got the insurance check, then suddenly she realized, "You know what? He may be a suspect."
Police turned their focus on him, checked out and found out that there were only two vans rented that day that matched the descriptions of the killer`s vehicle. One was rented by Hemy Neuman. And they had him in custody in a week.
So yes. She didn`t know anything about Hemy Neuman until she got her insurance check. And then she remembered he may be a suspect.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And our team has been investigating that. They`ve determined that those funds are now frozen. So she`s not going to be able to, if they indeed don`t charge her with any serious charges, she`s not going to be able to go to Las Vegas and start playing the tables with huge sums of money because that is frozen. But I got to ask, Eric Schwartzreich, if they don`t charge her, will they have to unfreeze that money? Could she become a multimillionaire?
ERIC SCHWARTZREICH, ATTORNEY: If they do not charge her and there are no crimes, keep in mind that was not the first charging document. The new charges, the second superseding charging document, I don`t know what charges are left, but if they have no proof beyond a reasonable doubt that she conspired or committed felony murder or committed this crime, they would be forced with having to unfreeze those assets, and she could be left getting that $2 million back and would be right to get that $2 million back.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Oh, please. Evangeline Gomez, you look angry. You look angry.
EVANGELINE GOMEZ, DEFENSE ATTORNEY: Look, from the beginning, the prosecution has had a problem. They have over charged. First time would be -- first indictment they wanted -- racketeering, RICO charges. Now we have felony murder, aggravated assault. You need to show intent. How are they going to show intent?
We know there were some conversations that were had, but was she calling him to tell him, "Look, I`m not able to come to work today, because something happened to my husband." So I think the prosecution understands that they`re not going to be able to prove a reasonable doubt, and they don`t want to waste taxpayer dollars. And they sure do not want to lose confidence in front of the public eye by bringing a case that`s not going to stand.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I want to go to Jay Apt. You`re a very special guest. Thank you for your patience. We had this breaking news. You represent Andrea Sneiderman`s former BFF. And we`re going to show you exactly the crazy stuff that happened with that woman, Shana Citron.
What`s your reaction, given that this former BFF that you represent, former best friend, is not at Andrea`s side anymore. And there she is, and you`re going to see something very crazy happen right here. And this is sort of a famous -- this is going to go down in the history of jurisprudence. She`s leaving court. This is your client.
JAY APT, LAWYER FOR SHANA CITRON: Here I am behind her.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Take a look at that. Look at that hug. She intercepts...
MURPHY: And kiss.
APT: Like "The Godfather," Jane.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This is crazy. First of all, explain that crazy moment and then we`re going to ask you your reaction to this breaking news.
APT: Well, the crazy moment is like, you know, "The Godfather" giving the kiss. And then we get outside and -- and I think what happened there is that Andrea wanted to portray to the jury that they were still friends. And that she still loved Shana and to create some likeability.
And so then we get outside the courtroom, and she gives some very ominous words to my client in my presence that, from my perception, were threats. And those have been well-detailed in court as to what was said outside the courtroom. So it was like this 180-degree...
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Tell us, tell us, tell us.
APT: Well, I mean, she said to my -- she shook her finger at my client and said, "I understood why you testified the way you did, but now you`re going to have to live with what I`m going to do to you." I mean, you know, that -- we didn`t -- to this day we don`t know what it meant. It could have been innocent. But we didn`t know, and we still don`t know what Andrea is capable of.
And so, out of an abundance of precaution, you know, we informed the D.A.`s office and other appropriate measures to protect Shana and her family.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Well, isn`t -- isn`t this all evidence -- I mean, couldn`t this come in...
APT: Absolutely. Absolutely.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: In her trial?
APT: I understand that defense lawyers, like myself, want to get on TV and say the prosecutor should not overcharge. You know, they don`t want to lose trials. They don`t want to overcharge juries.
But I`ve got to tell you, if I`m Robert James and I`m the D.A. in this case, I am not afraid of Hemy Neuman getting up on the stand. The man is admittedly insane. He professes his insanity. So his credibility is out the door. Who cares if he testifies?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: All right. We`re just getting started. Let`s take a short break. And we`re going to be back again.
Is she off the hook? Is somebody that the prosecution described as a puppet master engineering the vicious killing of her own husband executed - - executed in front of their daycare center, their kids` daycare center, is she going to walk, and could she get $2 million to boot? Stay right there. We`ll be back in a moment.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any idea why the defendant would have these feelings towards you?
SNEIDERMAN: I -- I think I`m a pretty nice person.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: From leaving work to arriving at daycare I think you presumed or had indicated that something had happened to Rusty.
SNEIDERMAN: Right.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How many times did you call Rusty?
SNEIDERMAN: Call Rusty?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Rusty.
SNEIDERMAN: Zero times.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why didn`t you call Rusty?
SNEIDERMAN: Because they just told me something happened to Rusty. What are the chances that he`s going to answer his cell phone?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: This story is off the hook. Officially now. That woman just heard from could be off the hook. Prosecutors are considering dropping felony murder, malice murder and aggravated assault against her. Even though they described her as the puppet master who engineered her husband`s murder.
The jury already found her alleged lover, the shooter, Hemy Neuman, guilty for Rusty`s death. He was her boss. During closing arguments, the defense pinned Rusty`s death on Andrea, and they framed Hemy, the alleged lover, the boss, of Andrea as a pawn of hers. Listen to this.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: One thing the district attorney`s office, and our office, and each of you have in common in this case. And that is that Andrea Sneiderman is playing each one of us for a damned fool.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Straight out to the Lion`s Den. You just heard the defense attorney say that this woman is playing all of us for a fool.
Wendy Murphy, come on, let`s debate this. You know. Now is she playing the prosecutor...
MURPHY: She is. Look, I think she absolutely not only conspired with Hemy Neuman to kill this poor guy, I think she set him up on which magical thing she did to him sexually that got the guy so loony he was willing to kill for her even though he`ll never -- be with her again...
GOMEZ: He`s insane. He was mentally ill.
MURPHY: The evidence -- the evidence is very clear that she took advantage of this weird guy who killed for her. And that she was part of the conspiracy. She planned it. She wanted the money. She wanted to get rid of the husband. She got what she wanted.
And she -- you know, she just was too slick, because you can`t prove a conspiracy unless one of the people in the conspiracy becomes a rat. And her rat is a nut.
LEIBERMAN: Keep this in mind.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes.
LEIBERMAN: Keep this in mind. There are still 13 charges. If indeed the prosecutors drop these three most serious charges, there are still 13 other charges, obstruction, lying to police, false statement, perjury. And I actually think they will go forward on those, because she actually hindered the investigation by when she was asked about Hemy Neuman in the beginning, by acting like she didn`t even know who he was. That set police back six weeks.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Eric, Eric Schwartzreich, let me ask you this. Let me ask you this. Two kids. Is she going to get the $2 million, the two kids? Go ahead.
SCHWARTZREICH: Jane, she should.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let me go to jay. You say she -- will have the kids?
APT: All they have left is perjury and obstruction, then they are going to give her the kids and give her the $2 million back. If they drop the murder charges and the most serious charges, she -- her maximum sentence is not, you know, she might do five or maybe even ten years in prison at the most. But she will not lose the money, and she will not lose the kids.
SCHWARTZREICH: It is a different standard.
MURPHY: I don`t agree with that.
(CROSSTALK)
SCHWARTZREICH: ... dependency court, and you`re dealings with the best interests of the child there. And if she`s found -- because keep in mind, while circumstantial evidence can be strong cases, this is a weak case. He`s always maintained the -- the shooter in this case, Neuman, has always maintained that Andrea had absolutely nothing do with this. No matter what the defense attorney says. And as far as the children and their insurance policy, if she didn`t commit this crime she should get everything.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Quickly, Wendy, and then we`ll go to break. Go ahead.
MURPHY: In a civil case, they cannot only prove her involvement because it`s a much lesser standard, if somebody wants to challenge her parental fitness, which I would do for free on behalf of those children, they can also...
(CROSSTALK)
LEIBERMAN: Jane...
GOMEZ: They need to prove abuse and negative.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s take a quick break, and we will be back with more.
MURPHY: She killed their father! It`s incredible. VELEZ-MITCHELL: Stay right there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Imagine a dance floor and they have the entire place to themselves. What stood out most was that he kept spinning her around to the salsa music, you know. At one point she kind of was dancing for him. He pulls her back, groped her. They were -- her groping each other. I kind of turned away.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You say each other. Was each party --
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: -- doing the groping?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That`s what you`re describing?
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Ok.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Do you have any idea why the defendant would have these feelings toward you? Did you ever tell Rusty about the poem or the defendant`s feelings?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: How did you find out that Rusty had been shot?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: She called and said Rusty had been shot. She was so, so sorry.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why didn`t you call Rusty?
ANDREA SNEIDERMAN, ON TRIAL FOR HUSBAND`S DEATH: Because they just told me something happened to Rusty. What are the chances that he`s going to be answering his cell phone?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sophia and Ian`s daddy`s blood is on the hands of Andrea Sneiderman.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: A feisty femme fatale who we thought was going to be going to trial for murder as well as other serious charges -- aggravated assault, malice murder, felony murder. Now we are hearing from WSB the prosecution may drop the most serious charges. This is breaking news. It just came in at the top of the hour.
Straight out to the phone lines. Ronnie, Virginia -- your question or thought? Ronnie, Virginia.
RONNIE, VIRGINIA (via telephone): first of all I must say you are incredible because you`re excellent. Jon Leiberman -- first class and the entire panel.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Thank you.
RONNIE: I want to say this. I watched the whole case with Mr. Hemy Neuman. First of all, the morning of the murder, let`s not forget that the police told the -- called Mrs. Sneiderman, tell her kids are safe, there has been an emergency. She hangs the phone up, called Hemy Neuman, she goes and gets her laptop. She then puts the phone down and makes another phone call and calls her father-in-law to say "Hey, Rusty has been shot." She is complicit. I would not drop the charges.
She knew the whole time. How did that man know exactly what time to be at that school? You guys are smart -- a lot smarter than me. We were born at might but not last night. You do a great job. Love you all. Take care.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ronnie, Virginia, you are very smart. You made an excellent case.
I want to go to Evangeline Gomez. Ok, everybody`s saying here`s some of the evidence. She -- here is something that happened to her husband and she allegedly tells people oh, he has been shot before -- unless she had a crystal ball and was psychic before she knew he was shot. She collects the life insurance policy. They can prove, according to this woman that says they saw them dirty dancing and groping each other, that they had an affair. How much more do you need?
GOMEZ: Having an affair is not against the law. It does not mean felony murder. It doesn`t mean aggravated assault. It doesn`t mean malice murder. That`s the problem that you have.
What you don`t want to have here is the prosecution trying to conflate this having an affair, not telling the police the truth during the investigation, not being exactly truthful in her testimony and trying to hide the affair -- conflate that with the murder charges against her. Because the defense is going to be able -- defense and a jury is going to able to see right through it. You do have some issues here. You have some inconsistencies. But is that enough to prove malice and aggravated assault, felony murder beyond a reasonable doubt? No.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jon --
JON LEIBERMAN, HLN CONTRIBUTOR: But you can also see -- look, you can see why prosecutors and defense attorneys have been so frustrated with Andrea Sneiderman. In the last case, in Hemy Neuman`s case, both sides agreed, both the prosecution and the defense, that Sneiderman was not telling the truth. And that`s where you find all this frustration --
GOMEZ: That`s not enough -- that`s not enough to be charged with felony murder.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: You know what? I think she makes a good point.
LEIBERMAN: I know. I`m not arguing that she should be charged with that. But that`s where the frustration is.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: I mean this is not a script.
Jay Abt, you represent her former best friend, what exactly did she tell her former best friend, your client, that was so disturbing?
ABT: One of the things I think that`s -- she told her several things that were disturbing -- but one of the things I think ought to come out is that 24 hours after the murder, my client Shayna Citron is standing in Andrea`s kitchen, her house. Shayna tells Andrea you have got to tell the police about Hemy Neuman. Hemy could be the killer. She tells that to Andrea.
And then Andrea proceeds to deflect away from Hemy Neuman for six weeks until the day she cashes a $2 million life insurance policy. Please, don`t tell me that she`s not complicit in murder --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And I have to say that the way she kisses your client, you know --
ABT: It`s like (inaudible) Corleone.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Let`s be real. She is know Jodi Arias in the looks department. All right? You could understand why Travels Alexander was taken with Jodi Arias before she tried to turn herself into a librarian with the glasses and the mousey hair when she was the -- platinum blond.
Andrea Sneiderman is not your classic femme fatale black widow but obviously when you look at that -- look -- let`s try to play it again of her kissing your client. You see that she has a certain je ne sais quoi ability to get really intimate and people -- as we watch this, pay attention, viewers because you know, people -- certain people have certain abilities. There is your client Jay walking away. Used to be best friends with Andrea and she just said some things that weren`t so flattering. Look at that. What`s that tell you, Jay?
ABT: Look at me. I look so dumbfounded because she is manipulative. What she wanted to portray to the jury was that she was kind and loving and when we get outside the courtroom, she is anything but. You know, listen - - the more -- the most -- you know, you talked earlier about the electronic media.
Think about all of those text messages that were lost. Lost, Jane between Andrea and Hemy and why? Because the Dunwoody police never investigated Andrea. They -- they lost all of the electronic media that was exchanged between Andrea and Hemy for the six weeks. They never investigated her and all those text messages disappeared. We will never know, never know, what the communications were between Andrea Sneiderman and Hemy Neuman up until the murder.
You know, I think there is a ton of circumstantial evidence in order to convict her. I would be surprised, I`d be shocked, that the prosecution is dropping the most serious charges. If I were Don Sneiderman and his family, I would be on the phone with Robert James right now pitching a fit.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Unbelievable.
MURPHY: Jane --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Go ahead.
MURPHY: I don`t have my glasses on so I couldn`t see any tongue in the picture and I`m not quite sure what she was doing. She clearly had some sexual thing --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: And you are talking about my age. Go continue on.
MURPHY: I know. I`m -- anyway, she -- I think that she was using sex because if you read the background she was going all over the country staying in hotels with Hemy. You know, he was getting hotter and hotter as those visits went by and they were leading up to the day of the murder. So I think you can paint an interesting picture.
But here is what I think is going to happen: they will drop the serious charges even though they believe them to be true because they can`t prove them beyond a reasonable doubt. But she`s going to get hooked on a boat load of perjury and false statements charges.
LEIBERMAN: Yes.
GOMEZ: Yes, that`s right.
ABT: Absolutely.
MURPHY: And if the judge believes that she`s involved, she will be in prison for years. Somebody will need to take custody of her children and that is why she`ll never get them back.
(CROSSTALK)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Hang in there. We`re going to get you on the other side.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
RUSTY SNEIDERMAN, MURDER VICTIM: There is a man who is sleeping in my backyard. He`s running. I think he has a gun in his back pocket. And now he is running away. I don`t know who the hell he is and I don`t want him by my house.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Ok. This is a house you said. Tell us what he looked like. Was he black, white, Hispanic?
R. SNEIDERMAN: He looks Hispanic with a mustache. He was wearing a hat and ear muffs, black mustache. Scared the hell out of me.
I walked around the side of the house and there is some guy laying there sleeping on the side.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: That is the voice of the dead man, the murdered man, the husband of Andrea Sneiderman. He was talking about Hemy Neuman, her lover, alleged, and boss who was, according to cops, loitering on his lawn about a week before he murdered him.
I want to go to Ann, South Carolina. Your question or thought -- Ann, South Carolina?
ANN, SOUTH CAROLINA (via telephone): Yes. I`m Ann from South Carolina. I am so mad right now. She is just like a Jodi Arias. She is so guilty. Those crocodile tear she has on there it`s pure sickening. They don`t drop the charges, you add more charges back on her. And -- like I said, she is another Jodi Arias.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ann thank you so much for calling. From South Carolina. Jon Lewis, reporter WSB, could there be blowback to the prosecutors if they indeed do what your station do what they say they are doing, dropping the most serious charge against Andrea?
JON LEWIS, REPORTER WSB (via telephone): Well, if they drop the charges, it is still a big if, but if they do, they will do so because they want to focus on the perjury, false statement charges. That`s where they think they have a case. And quite honestly from day one, and I say -- the first day of the first trial, Hemy Neuman trial, everybody, all members of the media, always thought they had a case.
And this is why. And it is something you guys have alluded to earlier. Andrea Sneiderman gets a phone call from the assistant director of Dunwoody Prep saying there has been an incident involving your husband. She drove to the daycare center. The police meet her there and say there has been something involving your husband. Go home and we will be in touch with you.
She gets back to the house. Her parents meet her there, they figure out her husband has been taken to Atlanta Medical Center. She drives to the hospital and the emergency room doctor takes her into what she calls the death room and tells her, her husband has been shot. He is dead.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Ok.
LEWIS: But earlier, she had called three people, her father-in-law, her best friend Shayna Citron and somebody they worked with at General Electric and said Rusty has been shot. So she knew about the shooting --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: She knew it.
LEWIS: An hour before she got to the hospital. And that was before she testified that she had found out about the shooting --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Jon, we have to leave it there but thank you for your excellent reporting. Jon, thank you.
Panel, the lady from South Carolina mentioned Jodi Arias. We have new information on Jodi Arias on the other side. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
JUAN MARTINEZ, PROSECUTOR: Were you crying when you were stabbing him?
JODI ARIAS, CONVICTED MURDERER: I don`t remember.
MARTINEZ: You`re the person who actually slit Travis Alexander`s throat from ear to ear.
ARIAS: It was my actions and it`s my responsibility.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The original jury found Arias guilty but they couldn`t agree on whether she should get the death penalty.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This time she came in through that front entrance with these armed guards in their full regalia. One of them has a loaded shotgun. Arias stood and she`s got her chains. It was very dramatic.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Breaking news tonight in the Jodi Arias case. Jodi Arias from behind prison bars continues to wage a Twitter war with prosecutor Juan Martinez. Martinez, of course the fiery prosecutor, who confronted her on the witness stand, grilled her, exposed her lies and got her convicted of premeditated murder. Remember this?
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
MARTINEZ: What factors influence your having a memory problem?
ARIAS: Usually when men like you are screaming at me or grilling her or someone like Travis doing the same.
MARTINEZ: So that affects your memory problems?
ARIAS: It does. It makes my brain scramble.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Here`s one of the tweets that she directed at prosecutor Martinez, quote, "The state rejected my third request for a plea to settle quietly and less expensively peacefully. Off we go to retrial. Sorry taxpayers."
Straight out to "The Lion`s Den". Unbelievable. Dave Hall, a good friend of the victim, Travis Alexander who was stabbed 29 times, whose throat was slit ear to ear. She`s unbelievable. Typical Jodi Arias pointing the finger of blame when she`s the one who created this horror story. If it weren`t for her we wouldn`t be spending any tax dollars.
DAVE HALL, FRIEND OF TRAVIS ALEXANDER: Absolutely. She`s about $2 million too late to send out that tweet. Where was her plea bargain early on when she was making up all these lies about Travis?
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Yes exactly. And I have to say that to me this is a typical -- by the way, there she is in the last court date wearing a bun now. This is her borderline personality disorder MO, Wendy Murphy, because borderlines it`s never their fault. And now she`s trying to say that the prosecutor is wrong for trying to retry her when she`s the one who killed Travis Alexander.
MURPHY: Yes. I mean that was my line. I was going say $4 million. I didn`t know the number. I think she should be punished for what she`s doing. And there is a way to do that. There`s a way to issue an order forbidding her to do this. She`s not -- I don`t care what disorder you call it. I would like to stop using mental health terminology.
She is evil. She got caught doing evil things that caused a man`s brutal death and she should be punished. There`s a way to do that. When we call it a mental health issue, when we say you know, she`s sick; she`s not. She should be stopped from doing this, punished for continuing.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Listen people --
LEIBERMAN: Jane it`s --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: -- I`ve got some breaking news of my own to share with you about the Jodi Arias trial. And you`re the first people to hear about it right now. I found the Jodi Arias trial so compelling I`ve just finished writing a book about it called "Exposed: the secret life of Jodi Arias". You`re hearing about this for the first. It contains incredible new information about this case from my sources.
And if you are as fascinated and really angered about this story as I am and the upcoming penalty phase and everything that has happened in this case, I urge you to pre-order the book. It goes on sale in the big stores in August. But you can get it now on the big book retailing Web sites. Pre-order it now. It goes on sale August 20th but you can preorder it. Once again the book is called "Exposed". You are the first to know about it.
And I have to tell you that one of my sources, Dave Hall, is our guest tonight. We`re going to take a short break and we`re back with more on Jodi Arias. And I have to tell you. This case is a mind blower. Stay right there.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
ARIAS: This is a really trivial question and it`s going to reveal how shallow I am. But before they book me can I clean myself up a little bit?
(END VIDEO CLIP)
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Dave Hall, the victim Travis Alexander`s very good friend. The retrial could start in September. Do you think they`re going to have to chain this woman to the defendant`s table to keep her from testifying again and hijacking the trial?
HALL: They`ll have to do a lot more than chaining her to the table. Jodi Arias loves herself so much she`s going to beg to get back up there.
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Eric Schwartzreich, quickly, is this going to become like another total new trial with her testifying?
ERIC SCHWARTZREICH, CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It`s really difficult. It was hard for me to hear your question but I think you`re talking about her testifying. Nothing is worse than clients who won`t listen to you and you know that old saying the of lawyers how do you know when --
VELEZ-MITCHELL: Got to leave it right there. It`s just getting started. This case is crazy.
END
