Former DeKalb School Superintendent Crawford Lewis filed a motion Tuesday to withdraw his guilty plea if the judge in his case refuses to sentence him to 12 months probation, which was the agreement he had with prosecutors in exchange for admitting to misdemeanor obstruction.
And if she declines, Lewis wants DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Becker step away from the case so another judge can resolve the matter.
The motion for an emergency hearing to argue the request was filed a day after Becker sentenced Lewis to 12 months in jail — instead of probation as recommended by prosecutors — for trying to sidetrack or stop the investigation of him and his former chief operating officer, Pat Reid.
Becker stunned Lewis Monday when she sentenced him to jail and then refused to let him withdraw his guilty plea that he entered in October, less than two weeks before he was to go on trial on felony racketeering and theft charges along with Reid and her ex-husband, architect Tony Pope.
Lewis was immediately handcuffed and taken to jail. His lawyers have asked Becker for a hearing on Wednesday but none had been scheduled Tuesday evening.
Reid and Pope were convicted last month and on Monday Reid was sentenced to 15 years in prison and 10 years probation for racketeering and theft and Pope was sentenced to eight years in prison and 12 years probation for racketeering.
Prosecutors said Reid arranged for the district to pay Pope more than $1 million for work he was not entitled to get.
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