Georgia man found guilty of murder in day care shooting death
- NEW: Attorney: The victim's wife is "grateful for and relieved by" the sentence
- The judge says Rusty Sneiderman's death appears to be a "planned execution"
- After his conviction, Hemy Neuman says, "I am so, so, so sorry"
- Sneiderman was shot dead in 2010 after dropping off his son at day care
Atlanta (CNN) -- A Georgia judge Thursday sentenced Hemy Neuman to life in prison without the possibility of parole after jurors convicted him of fatally shooting a father outside a suburban Atlanta day care center.
DeKalb County Judge Gregory Adams delivered the sentence less than two hours after a jury of nine women and three men found Neuman guilty of malice murder "beyond a reasonable doubt, but mentally ill."
"This situation was brought about by your hands," Adams said, adding that the act "appeared to be a planned execution."
In November 2010, Russell "Rusty" Sneiderman was shot multiple times in the parking lot of Dunwoody Prep after dropping off his then-2-year-old son in what police described as a "cold and calculated murder."
The jury had three options, after beginning deliberations Tuesday: to find Neuman guilty of murder, to find him guilty but mentally ill or to find him not guilty by reason of insanity, as he'd pleaded.
They chose the second course. That meant Adams could either have sentenced Neuman to life in prison with the possibility of parole in at least 30 years, or life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Neuman will be evaluated for mental illness in prison, and if diagnosed as mentally ill will be treated while incarcerated.
After the verdict was delivered, Steve Sneiderman described his 36-year-old brother as a "good provider," "devoted son," "wonderful brother" and a "great father" to his two children.
"He had limitless potential, which now can never be realized because of this man," Sneiderman told the court Thursday, referring to Neuman.
Neuman himself spoke a short time thereafter, saying "everybody lost" in this case -- making specific reference to Sneiderman's son and daughter and his own three children. He called the man that he killed "a good man."
"I am so, so, so sorry. I can't say it enough," Neuman said.
During his trial, Neuman's lawyers did not deny that their client killed Sneiderman. His attorneys Tuesday sought to implicate the victim's widow in the fatal shooting. Andrea Sneiderman has not been charged.
"The gun in this case was in Hemy's hand, but the trigger -- I respectfully suggest -- was pulled by Andrea Sneiderman," defense attorney Doug Peters told the jury earlier this week.
At the time of the shooting, Neuman was Andrea Sneiderman's supervisor at work and both the defense and prosecution accused her of having an affair with the defendant. She denied the accusation in her testimony during the trial.
"There was no affair. Who kills someone else's husband?" Andrea Sneiderman said, claiming that Neuman said he'd cared about her, her husband and her family before the shooting.
The jury also found Neuman guilty of using a firearm in the commission of a felony. Adams sentenced Neuman to five years in prison for that charge, to be served concurrently with his life sentence.
On the day of the murder, witnesses told police they saw a man come up from behind Sneiderman and open fire. The shooter then fled the scene in a silver minivan without a valid license plate.
The killing shocked and perplexed many in Dunwoody, a community about 15 miles north of Atlanta.
Sneiderman, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, received an MBA from Harvard and was an active volunteer with the Georgia chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.
Neuman, then 48, was arrested nearly two months after the shooting.
During his trial, which began last month, the prosecution had argued that Neuman was not insane.
DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James urged jurors to "use your common sense ... and you apply it to determine whether or not somebody is malingering or telling the truth."
"He's insane, he sees angels, he sees demons, he's crazy. 'Something's wrong with me,'" James said, repeating assertions made by Neuman and his defense team. "If you cannot trust the ingredients on this insanity sandwich, then I'm going to ask you -- don't eat it."
An attorney for Andrea Sneiderman released a statement late Thursday saying her client "is grateful for and relieved by the jury's guilty verdict and sentence."
"Nothing can bring back her husband, but it is reassuring to her that, after all of the noise and distractions surrounding this case, some measure of justice has been done for Rusty," said the lawyer, Jennifer Little.
InSession's Nancy Leung contributed to this report.
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