Andrea Sneiderman Update: Ga. woman to serve about 4 years in prison for lying to authorities investigating husband's murder
(CBS) DECATUR, Ga. - A judge has sentenced Andrea Sneiderman to a five-year prison term, and will allow her to get credit for the time she's already served.
That means Sneiderman will spend about four years behind bars for lying to authorities who were investigating the 2010 slaying of her husband Rusty Sneiderman.
Earlier, she said through tears at Tuesday morning's sentencing hearing that she wanted leniency for the sake of her children.
"Please let me go home to my kids," she told the judge while sobbing, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution. "Please don't let them live without their mother."
Rusty Sneiderman was shot outside a Dunwoody daycare center in November 2010. Andrea Sneiderman's former boss Hemy Neuman was convicted in the killing in March 2012, but found mentally ill.
Sneiderman told the judge shortly before the sentence was handed down that one of her greatest regrets will always be "allowing this predator into my life."
"I never thought Mr. Neuman was capable of murder," she said, the paper reports.
Several friends of Andrea Sneiderman also spoke on her behalf during the sentencing hearing.
"Miss Elizabeth, I can't see my mommy, but she's not dead," said Elizabeth Stansbury, quoting Sneiderman's son, according to the paper. "They do not need to lose another parent."
The 37-year-old mother of two was found guilty Monday on nine of 13 charges including hindering the apprehension of a criminal, concealment of material facts, perjury and false statement.
The jury acquitted her on four counts that related to claims that she knew her husband had been shot before anyone at the scene told her, CBS Atlanta reports.
The guilty counts signified she lied to cover up an affair she was having with Hemy Neuman.
District Attorney Robert James urged the judge to sentence Andrea Sneiderman to 20 years, saying the defendant has not taken responsibility for what she's done, the paper reports. Instead, DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Gregory A. Adams sentenced her to five years on each count she was found guilty, but showed leniency by allowing her to serve the sentences concurrently.
The paper reports Sneiderman showed no emotion as she was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs.
Sneiderman has vehemently denied any involvement in the slaying of her husband. She was arrested in 2012 and charged with murder, along with several other counts. But on the eve of jury selection in her trial, the judge dismissed the murder charge after the D.A. said he lacked the evidence for a murder conviction.
Judge Adams said she has 30 days to file her notice of intent to appeal.
Complete coverage of the Andrea Sneiderman case on Crimesider