The end of the prosecution’s case in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial is within sight with only one new witness waiting to be called. But many weeks still remain for the legal drama.
On the stand Tuesday as proceedings drew to a close was a mother of four children who at one time were all APS students. The mother, Shawnna Hayes-Tavares, has a few more questions to answer Wednesday. Then the last prosecution witness, a student, will be called.
That testimony will end a key segment of the trial that began six months ago to the day when jury selection started on Aug. 11.
Next, defense attorneys are expected to ask the judge to dismiss some or all of the charges against the 12 former educators accused of engaging in a racketeering scheme to inflate test scores. If the defense lawyers’ requests are denied, they will begin calling witnesses to counter the prosecution’s allegations. Estimates are the trial will continue until late March or April.
Tuesday, the last full day of the Fulton County district attorney’s case, began with defense attorneys wrapping up their cross-examination of the prosecution’s statistical analysis expert.
A retired teacher and a middle school principal then testified and were followed by Hayes-Tavares, who told jurors about discovering her children were not as academically advanced as she had believed.
For example, Hayes-Tavares said, her daughter’s score on the math section of the fifth-grade Criterion-Referenced Competency Test, taken at Peyton Forest Elementary School, was more than 100 points higher than she scored the next year at Inman Middle School.
Hayes-Tavares said she was just as surprised after she moved her disabled son from Peyton Forest Elementary to the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf, which is not in the APS district. His score on one section of the CRCT dropped 55 points from when he took the standardized test as a third-grader at Peyton Forest.
“My children were prepared. They had a stable home,” she said.
Here’s what’s expected on Wednesday:
- The prosecution will rest.
- Defense attorneys will ask Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter to acquit their respective clients on the basis that prosecutors did not prove the former educators committed crimes. Defense attorneys routinely ask for directed verdicts of acquittal and sometimes judges grant them.
- At least one defense lawyer who did not make an opening statement months ago will speak to jurors about what to expect from defense witnesses.
- Defense attorneys will begin calling witnesses after the lunch break.
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