Prosecutors and Defense Team and Their Stand on the Hemy Neumans Case - Essay Example

Neuman had three children who were attending college. Despite all this, his wife was filing the divorce and the financial burden on Hemy increased (Schechter, 2012). This paper will analyze the prosecutors and defense team and their stand on the Hemy Neuman case.

Neuman’s suspected lover was called Andrea Schneiderman. However, both of them denied the accusation that they had an affair. Andrea’s husband was out of work and they had two young children (Schechter, 2012). On November 18, 2010, Andrea’s husband named Russell “Rusty” Schneiderman dropped off his two-year-old son at school. The minor was studying in the Dunwoody Prep nursery school, north of Atlanta (Schechter, 2012). As Schneiderman was walking back to his car, Neuman was behind him with a 40-caliber Bersa handgun. He shot him severally leading to Schneiderman’s death on the scene. After the incident, Neuman quickly rushed to a rented KIA minivan and drove off (Schechter, 2012).

It was alleged that a week before this incident, Neuman who was in a fake beard also attempted to kill Schneiderman in his house. However, he had fallen out of target after Schneiderman walked out of the house to check on a gas leak. This scared Neuman who quickly dashed off. Russell later called the police informing them of an intruder in his house. After a while, Neuman’s wife learned that his husband was responsible for the death of Schneiderman. She called the police and informed them of the affair that Neuman had with their wife of Russell.

The police arrested him on January 4, 2011, and he admitted that he was responsible for the murder of Russell Schneiderman (Schechter, 2012). However, he claimed that at the time of the shooting, he was not in his right senses. His defense was linked with legal insanity, but neither the investigators nor the prosecutors bought his defense (Schechter, 2012). In February 2012, he was charged with malice murder also called capital or first-degree murder, and a felony crime since he used a firearm in the killing of Russell. He faced a trial in De Kalb County court in Decatur, Georgia in the presence of a 9 men and 3 women jury (Schechter, 2012).

The insanity defense put across by Neuman was declared a sham after the prosecutor played a video tape of the interview between the defendant, and Dr. Pamela Crawford (Schechter, 2012). During the interview Neuman told Dr. Crawford that he had planned to kill Schneiderman by stabbing him to death, poisoning him, or staging a serious accident (Schechter, 2012). He lastly chose to shoot him dead since it was a simple, and sure method. Neuman’s prosecutors and defense attorneys said that the affair between Andrea and Neuman existed. Records also showed that the two had been exchanging phone calls and text messages. Andrea also accepted the fact that at one time, she danced with him at a bar, and often had long dinners during work trips (Schechter, 2012).

Neuman’s attorneys claimed that their client was a troubled child who feared his father, a Holocaust survivor. It was testified that he suffered a bipolar disorder accompanied by psychosis. It was also said that he suffered from delusions (Schechter, 2012). According to Schechter (2012), the prosecutors of Neuman’s case had enough evidence to send him straight behind bars. In defense, Dr. Andriana Flores, a forensic scientist claimed that Neuman suffered from some mental illnesses.

The jury presented the possibility of three verdicts in Neuman’s case. They claimed that Neuman was guilty, or not guilty by his alleged mental case or guilty but mentally ill (Schechter, 2012). The claim that he was mentally ill did not match up to his thoughts and actions before the death of “Rusty”. Therefore, on March 14, De Kalb County's superior judge, Gregory Adams, found him guilty but mentally ill and he was sentenced to life imprisonment. This meant that Neuman was to receive his mental treatment while he served his time behind bars (Schechter, 2012). Read More