Dunwoody Murder Suspect on Trial in October

The trial for Hemy Neuman, the East Cobb resident Russell "Rusty" Sneiderman outside a Dunwoody preschool, will begin this fall.

During a pre-trial hearing on Thursday, DeKalb Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams set the trial date for Oct. 17. The trial is scheduled to run for four weeks.

Adams asked attorneys if they expected a plea agreement would be reached. Robert James, the DeKalb County District Attorney, said his office was ready for a trial.

Neuman's defense team said it doesn't expect an agreement.

“We have entered a plea of not guilty,” said Douglas Peters, Neuman’s attorney. “And expect the case to be tried by a jury.”

Adams scheduled hearings on pre-trial motions for August.

In April, Neuman to charges of malice murder and possession of a firearm during the commission of a felony.

Neuman, 48, is accused of shooting Sneiderman 36, on Nov. 18 outside of Dunwoody Prep, a day care center in Dunwoody Village. Sneiderman had just dropped off his two-year-old son at the school when he was shot multiple times at close range by his assailant.

There is a question as to how much of this case will be public.

Peters, when asked if he would be filing a request to seal pre-trial motions, said that issue would have to be decided by the court, but wouldn’t directly say whether he’ll be asking for such seals.

“What we want is that throughout the pre-trial motions process that they be done in such a way that, again, that matters in this case are not presented to the public that would take away Mr. Neuman’s right to a fair trial,” he said. “The state feels passionately about that also, and so does the judge.”

District Attorney Robert James said about such possible seals, “I don’t really see that I have a dog in the fight.”

James declined to say if he will seek the death penalty in the case.

“One thing we do have now is clarity and certainty about when this trial is going to begin and when the adversarial proceedings are going to commence,” James said.