After days of deliberation, a Georgia woman was found guilty of lying under oath concerning the death of her husband, along with 12 other counts of perjury and hindering an investigation.
Andrea Sneiderman's husband Rusty was shot to death in 2012 in front of a preschool in Atlanta, the Associated Press reported. Initially, Andrea's boss Hemy Neuman was tried for the murder in 2012, but was ruled to be mentally ill.
Sneiderman was then accused of perjury-she reportedly did not tell investigators the truth when they were looking into her late husband's death, in addition to lying about her then-boss during his trial.
The jury discussed the case all weekend before finding Sneiderman guilty on concealment of material facts and hindering the apprehension of a criminal, in addition to four counts of perjury.
The prosecution alleged that Sneiderman was romantically involved with Neuman, and that she did not tell the truth about their being together on a few occasions. But Sneiderman and her lawyer Tom Clegg claimed there was no such relationship-in fact, they contended, police mishandled the case when they didn't take heed of Sneiderman's word that Neuman was responsible for her husband's death.
Prosecutors used video and audio recordings of interviews with the 37-year-old Decatur native that they compared with documents and witnesses who claimed Sneiderman had told untruths to both the police and the jury.
After the verdict, defense attorney Clegg said that Sneiderman was a "victim" of Neuman's actions, CBS reported.
"Part of that woman's heart, part of that woman's soul was ripped apart and she will never get that back," he said during his closing statements. "The state of Georgia is doing all it can to take away the rest of her heart, the rest of her soul."
The defense also testified that prosecutors had but a "weak case" for Sneiderman, and that they felt she was a scapegoat-the prosecutors had to pin some kind of crime on her.
