DECATUR, Ga. (WXIA) -- The defense rested its side of the Hemy Neuman trial Thursday afternoon without Neuman taking the witness stand.
During one of his few utterances in the now 3 week long case, Neuman told DeKalb Superior Court Judge Gregory Adams that he understood it was his constitutional right to take the stand, but declined.
The defense wrapped up its case with psychiatrist Dr. Tracey Marks.
She said in her opinion Neuman is a delusional bi-polar psychotic who did not know right from wrong when he gunned down Rusty Sneiderman outside a Dunwoody day care center in November of 2010.
Dr. Marks followed other defense mental experts who said they believe Neuman felt he was driven by demons and angels to kill Sneiderman so he could take over his life and his wife, co-worker Andrea Sneiderman.
Marks said Neuman felt he was on a "rescue mission" to save the two Sneiderman children, who he believed were his, from the same type of parental abuse he suffered as a child.
She also said Andrea Sneiderman's off and again romantic flirting with Neuman on shared business trips "stoked the fire" of his delusions.
"He hears, 'I want you; I must stay with my husband and my husband is doing the same thing to the kids that your parents did to you', and 'boom', you plant the seed for his delusions," Marks testified.
Dr. Marks said Neuman even asked her during a jailhouse session if she thought it would be okay for him to call Andrea Sneiderman nearly a year after the killing.
"I said, 'why do you think Mrs. Sneiderman would want to hear from you?' and he proceeded to tell me how they were going to be together and how the children were theirs and how the children needed him and that even the angel had confirmed this," she said.
Prosecutors called their own psychiatrist as their first rebuttal witness Thursday afternoon.
Dr. Pamela Crawford wasted no time calling Neuman a "malingerer" who she thought was faking mental illness.
She pointed out that no one close to Neuman had ever observed the psychotic symptoms he claims to suffer from.
"There is no possibility that if he truly had manic episodes there would not be a single person who would have recognized them as such," Dr. Crawford testified.
"Psychotic disorder associated with mania is something that's going to be recognizable and that you'd never forget once you saw it," she added.
Dr. Crawford is set to continue her testimony when the trial continues Friday morning.