It’s expected to take days, if not weeks, for jurors to decide whether the 12 defendants in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating case get to move on with their lives, or instead must head to prison.
Following five months of testimony and three days of closing arguments, jury deliberations began Thursday morning. The jurors must review thousands of pages of evidence, plus their notes and memories, to reach their verdicts.
It’s a daunting task, made clear Thursday afternoon when an angry Judge Jerry Baxter barked at Fulton County prosecutors after jurors found mistakes in two of the charges against one of the 12 defendants.
One dozen ex-educators — former school administrators, principals and teachers — stand accused of engaging in a racketeering scheme to inflate scores on standardized tests in order to meet federal benchmarks and reap financial rewards.
The alleged cheating was discovered in 2008 when The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported inexplicable spikes in test scores. Eventually, special investigators appointed by the governor exposed widespread cheating in the APS district, which led to a multicount indictment.
A racketeering conviction could bring a 20-year prison sentence. But the defendants also face lesser felony charges that carry prison sentences of as much as five and 10 years each.
On Thursday afternoon, jurors asked what they should do about problems they saw in two of the charges against former APS regional director Sharon Davis-Williams. The school named in count No. 5 should have been listed in count No. 6, and the school named in count No. 6 belonged in count No. 5.
Davis-Williams’ lawyer, Teresa Mann, questioned the mistake in a motion filed more than a year ago, then again last month in her motion for a directed verdict of acquittal, and yet again in her closing argument to the jury on Wednesday.
Prosecutors had assured Baxter last month that the indictment was accurate. On Thursday they described the mistake as a “scrivener’s error.”
The judge was visibly angry.
“I was misled,” Baxter shouted.
One of the questioned counts says Davis-Williams committed the crime of making false statements and writings when she covered up a report by a school proctor that students at Perkerson Elementary School said a teacher helped them with answers on the 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test. The indictment should have said it happened at Herndon Elementary School.
In the other count questioned, the indictment said Davis-Williams told a classroom monitor to change his written report that he saw a teacher at Herndon Elementary help students during the 2009 CRCT. In that instance, it should have noted the alleged crime happened at Perkerson.
Baxter declined to throw out the two counts in question, but told jury members they should strictly consider what is written in the indictment.
Jurors were dispatched to begin deliberations before 11 a.m., moments after Baxter completed a 55-minute explanation of the law. They questioned two of the charges against Davis-Williams after they’d deliberated just over two hours. They headed home just before 5 p.m. and will resume their discussions on Monday.
Fridays will remain a day off, as has been the case throughout the trial being held in Fulton County Superior Court. Baxter told attorneys in the case they can leave the courthouse, but they should be nearby if the jury has questions.
Thursday morning, after the 12 regular jurors were sent off to begin their work, the seven alternate jurors stayed behind so Baxter could explain their status and thank them. He told the alternates they could leave, but reminded them they could be called to fill in if something happens to one of the 12 regulars.
One of the alternates asked if they could say goodbye to those left behind. Baxter gave his consent, and laughter and cries greeted the alternates when the deputy opened the door to the jury room. They had served together since the summer of 2014: The jury selection process, which lasted for six weeks, began in mid-August. And testimony began at the end of September.
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