Prosecutors Want GA Murder Suspect's Records

A judge is considering whether to let prosecutors access a mental health examination of a Georgia man who claims he was insane when he shot and killed a toddler's father outside a suburban Atlanta preschool.

DeKalb County prosecutors made the request on Wednesday in hopes that the review by a psychologist would undercut Hemy Neuman's argument that he was not guilty of the shooting by reason of insanity.

Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams didn't immediately rule on the request, but he refused to allow psychologist Peter Thomas, who conducted the exam, to tell the court whether he concluded Neuman was insane.

The Marietta man's trial is set to begin on Feb. 13 after it was pushed back to give a court-appointed mental health expert time to examine the suspect. But Wednesday's hearing focused on an earlier review in May 2011.

Prosecutors said Neuman waived his right to shielding that review when he notified the court he was using an insanity plea. Lead prosecutor Don Geary said he could get the records through a search warrant but that he preferred to ask the court for its approval first.

"We want everything out there. What if he says he's insane? I need to know that," he said, adding he didn't think it was true. "But I need the information to know that."

But defense attoeys said they hired Thomas as a private consultant and he was given special access to Neuman only because he would never be called on to testify. Attoey Bob Rubin said calling on Thomas would violate attoey-client privilege and discourage attoeys from hiring private consultants to build their cases.

"We needed the help of a professional who could help us with what we were grappling with, who could steer us in the right direction," Rubin said. "It was never intended that he be a witness in this case."

The judge's decision will play a crucial role in the trial of Neuman, who was arrested about a month after the killing. He supervised Sneiderman's wife, Andrea, at GE Energy in Atlanta and investigators have said that the shooting happened because of an "extramarital affair" between the two.

Andrea's attoey has declined to comment on whether his client was having an affair with the suspect.

Prosecutors, meanwhile, are readying their evidence. They say in court filings that a gun owned by Neuman matches the one used to kill Sneiderman outside the Dunwoody Prep day care center in November 2010. They also say a witness picked Neuman out of a photo lineup as the man he sold a gun to before the killing.

Neuman, who is from Israel, has refused to answer reporters' questions. He sat quietly through Wednesday's hearing, taking notes and occasionally chatting with a sheriff's deputy standing guard nearby his counsel table.

------

Follow Bluestein at

http://www.twitter.com/bluestein