Andrea Sneiderman's attorney says arrest mishandled - KMSP-TV

Attorneys for Andrea Sneiderman are upset over the way her arrest was handled on Thursday. They said it was over the top and unnecessary because they had volunteered to have her turn herself in.

Sneiderman was arrested Thursday morning at her home in Putnam County. She is charged with eight counts related to her husband's death, including malice murder and criminal attempt to commit murder.

J. Tom Morgan and John Petry, the former district attorney and assistant district attorney of DeKalb County, are Sneiderman's lawyers. They say news of her arrest caught them off guard.

"A SWAT team was not necessary to arrest Andrea Sneiderman," said J. Tom Morgan. "John and I had met wit the prosecutors and ask that we be able to turn her in – she's not a dangerous person, she's not running anywhere. Then we get a phone call this morning from the press that she's about to be arrested."

Morgan said that the indictment itself contained numerous mentions of Hemy Neuman, but not many mentions of Andrea Sneiderman's alleged involvement in the conspiracy.

• LINK: READ THE 19-PAGE INDICTMENT (.PDF)
  
• VIDEO: DEKALB D.A. ANNOUNCES SNEIDERMAN INDICTMENT

In the trial of Hemy Neuman last March, both the prosecutor and the defense claimed that Neuman and Andrea Sneiderman had been lovers. Andrea denied that allegation on the stand, but the alleged relationship appears again in the indictment.

"Andrea Sneiderman and Neuman began taking business trips together, having dinners together and began having an affair," the indictment reads.

"We absolutely deny an affair. As to anything else, no, we're not commenting on that at this time," said Morgan.

One of the charges leveled against Andrea Sneiderman is perjury. That stems from her testimony during the trial of Hemy Neuman.

On the stand, the widow adamantly denied having an affair with Neuman. She testified that she was afraid to report what she said were "unwanted advances." However, her testimony conflicted with statements given by her one of her closest friends.

Shayna Citron that testified Sneiderman told her if she wasn't married, she would have been interested in a relationship with Hemy Neuman.

"My client knew that she was not telling the truth. You can tell when your best friend is lying sometimes. In this case, Shayna was able to know and understand that Andrea was not being truthful about denying a relationship with Hemy Neuman," said Jay Abt, Citron's attorney.

After Citron testified, Sneiderman confronted her outside the courtroom, and allegedly threatened her, leading the judge to bar the widow from the rest of Neuman's trial.

Citron's attorney says his client and Sneiderman haven't had any contact since then.

He says Citron will likely be called to testify in Sneiderman's case.

Morgan says after meeting with Andrea Sneiderman in jail, they would begin work on trying to get her out on bond. They say she is not threat to the public and has family members living in the area.