DECATUR, Ga. -- A corporate engineer was found guilty but mentally ill Thursday of killing the husband of a woman with whom he allegedly was having an affair and sentenced to life in prison without possibility of parole.
Hemy Neuman was accused of gunning down Russell Sneiderman on Nov. 18, 2010, as the victim was dropping off his son at a Dunwoody day care. Prosecutors and defense attorneys said Neuman was having an affair with Sneiderman's wife, Andrea, although she denied those allegations.
Neuman, a Georgia Tech graduate and father of three, was a high-ranking manager at General Electric, where he supervised Andrea Sneiderman. He was arrested about six weeks after the killing when prosecutors discovered he rented a silver minivan seen speeding away from the shooting scene.
The trial garnered attention because the slaying was brazen, Neuman and Sneiderman had impressive professional backgrounds. and there were questions surrounding Andrea Sneiderman, who was accused of goading Neuman into the killing by both prosecutors and defense attorneys.
She denied knowing anything about the shooting and has not been charged.
The "mentally ill" designation means Neuman will receive mental health treatment in prison.
During sentencing, Neuman told the judge the shooting was a terrible tragedy.
"I am so, so, so sorry. I can't say it enough ... I am sorry from the deepest part of my heart, your honor," Neuman said before his attorneys urged the judge to give him life in prison with parole.
Neuman pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. If the jury had reached that verdict, Neuman would have become a ward of the state mental health department and a judge would have later decided when, if ever, he could be released.
Neuman told mental health examiners he was visited by a demon whose voice sounded like Barry White and an angel who looked like Olivia Newton-John. The angel ordered him to fatally shoot Sneiderman, Neuman said in one interview.
The defense team said it would appeal.
Neuman's lawyer, Doug Peters, told the jury in closing arguments Tuesday that his client did indeed shoot Sneiderman. But he said Sneiderman's wife fed Neuman's dangerous delusions by encouraging him to believe he needed to kill her husband to protect her two children.
"The gun in this case was in Hemy's hand," Peters said. "But the trigger, I respectfully suggest, was pulled by Andrea Sneiderman."
Asked Thursday if Andrea Sneiderman will face charges in her husband’s death, DeKalb District Attorney Robert James said: "It is something we have under review right now. It's something we're looking at,” The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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