A judge has ruled that Andrea Sneiderman must stop having contact with Joseph Dell, the man who a prosecutor has suggested she wanted to end up with after her husband was murdered.

The prosecution added Dell’s name to the list of potential witnesses who may be called in Sneiderman’s murder trial, and her bond conditions bar her from communicating with witnesses.

DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams on Monday denied Sneiderman’s request to continue having contact with Dell while the case is pending. He had been considering the issue since it arose during a hearing Nov. 16.

DeKalb County Chief Assistant District Attorney Don Geary said at the hearing that he has seen evidence that might indicate Sneiderman had her husband killed by her former boss, Hemy Neuman, so that she could be in a relationship with Dell.

That theory was different from Sneiderman’s alleged motive outlined in an Aug. 2 indictment charging her with murder for conspiring with Neuman in the killing of Rusty Sneiderman so that they could be together and share the proceeds of Rusty Sneiderman’s $2 million in life insurance policies. Neuman was found guilty but mentally ill in March.

An attorney for Sneiderman, Thomas Clegg, said at the hearing that her relationship with Dell had no bearing on the case, and he called the prosecution’s suspicions “fanciful.”

Dell picks up Sneiderman’s children from school and helps her with chores while she’s under house arrest as a condition of her $500,000 bond, Clegg said.

“By virtue of the fact that she is under house arrest, she needs help and she’s not been able to get it from her friends” who are also on the witness list, Clegg said at the hearing. “She’s being kidnapped from Joseph Dell.”
Sneiderman has denied any involvement in the death of her husband.

Dell was with Sneiderman when she was arrested Aug. 2 at Lake Oconee, according to a motion filed Nov. 15 by Rusty Sneiderman’s brother, Steven Sneiderman, in a lawsuit over the life insurance money.

The motion claimed Dell professed his love to Andrea Sneiderman while she was jailed, and that the two began arranging “playdates” with their children before Rusty Sneiderman was killed in November 2010.

Dell separated from his wife while she was six months pregnant with their second child, and his wife filed for divorce on the first day of the evidence portion of Neuman’s trial, the filing said.

Sneiderman has denied being employed by Dell, but she had an email address with the same company name as Dell’s, the filing said. Dell is the CEO of Lightwave Security, according to the company’s registration with the state that was attached to the motion.

Contributor: Mark Niesse in Criminal Cases, DeKalb courts | subscribe to rss |   share