The story so far:
Pat Reid, former DeKalb school COO
Convicted of racketeering and theft. Sentenced to 15 years in prison followed by 10 years’ probation. She was ordered to repay the district the $2,531.66 it spent repairing the county-issued Ford Explorer she tried to buy at one-third its value but returned when the investigation began.
Tony Pope, Reid’s ex-husband, an architect
Convicted of racketeering and theft. Sentenced to 8 years in prison, 12 years on probation.
Crawford Lewis, former DeKalb County School Superintendent
Sentenced to 12 months in the DeKalb County Jail, despite a plea agreement to give him probation. Last week, the Georgia Court of Appeals overruled his sentence, essentially saying it was unfair.
TIMELINE
Oct. 8, 2004: Crawford Lewis becomes DeKalb superintendent and later hires Pat Reid to oversee construction of new schools funded by the Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.
May 2010: Lewis, Reid, her husband Tony Pope and Reid’s assistant are indicted. (The assistant is dismissed from the case, then later dies.) Lewis is fired.
Oct. 28 2013: Start of trial against Reid and Pope, with Lewis testifying against his former co-defendants.
Nov. 20 2013: The jury reaches a verdict.
Dec. 9 2013: Reid and Pope are sentenced by DeKalb County Judge Cynthia Becker; she rejects Lewis’ plea agreement that spared him jail time. Becker later questioned “credibility” and “believability” of his testimony.
Oct. 23: Georgia Court of Appeals releases opinion overruling Lewis’ sentence, essentially saying he was treated unfairly. Lewis sent back to judge for resentencing by Becker. Appeals court says if judge believes his testimony untruthful, it may call into question the validity of the Pope and Reid convictions.
Oct. 27: DeKalb County Judge Cynthia Becker ordered new trials for two people convicted of racketeering involving the county’s school system because they were found guilty based on the testimony of former school Superintendent Crawford Lewis, whom she found to have been untruthful.
The collapse of a second high-profile public corruption case in DeKalb County within seven days brought exasperation and references to the Almighty from chagrined residents.
Superior Court Judge Cynthia Becker on Monday ordered the reversal of the convictions of former DeKalb schools chief operating officer Pat Reid and her ex-husband, Tony Pope, saying the star prosecution witness’s testimony against them was untrue.
“Really? Wow. Really? Oh my God,” said Donna Priest-Brown, a mom in south DeKalb who has organized parents to push for improvements since the district nearly lost accreditation a couple years ago.
The corruption trial of Burrell Ellis, the suspended DeKalb County CEO, ended last week with a hung jury and a mistrial.
“I guess it pays to be a crooked politician in DeKalb County,” said Robert Richardson, a retired real estate agent in north DeKalb. “It’s unbelievable. I mean, I’m embarrassed.”
In the school case last year, Becker sentenced Reid to 15 years in prison and Pope to eight for racketeering. Former Superintendent Crawford Lewis was initially charged with them, but was allowed to plead guilty to a misdemeanor in exchange for testifying against the pair.
The plea agreement was supposed to keep Lewis out of jail, but Becker sentenced him to a year behind bars, questioning the “credibility” and “believability” of his testimony.
The Georgia Court of Appeals on Thursday overruled Lewis’ sentencing and sent the case back to Becker for re-sentencing. A three-judge panel said Becker implied Lewis may have given false testimony, and that if Lewis’ testimony helped seal the fates of Reid and Pope and was untruthful, then “such a finding may call into question the validity of the co-defendants’ convictions.”
Becker responded Monday by citing more than 100 pages of transcripts from Lewis’ testimony where she believed he was “not credible nor completely truthful.” Then she signed an order releasing Reid and Pope from prison and granting Reid’s motion for a new trial. She also stepped aside from any further prosecution of the pair.
Attorneys for Lewis and Reid could not be reached for comment, and one of Pope’s attorneys declined to comment because a previous gag order may still be in place.
DeKalb District Attorney Robert James, whose office sided with Lewis in arguments before the Court of Appeals in July, immediately filed a motion to vacate Becker’s order, saying her ruling came before the appellate order was filed in DeKalb.
But Russell Gabriel, a professor of criminal law at the University of Georgia, said that was a technicality and there was nothing preventing Becker from re-issuing the same order after the ruling arrives.
He said defense attorneys routinely ask for a new trial after a conviction, but they are rarely granted.
“The average defense lawyer, at the end of his long career, can probably count on one finger the number of times a judge has granted a retrial,” he said.
This was the third time the Court of Appeals has ruled against Becker in this case.
The first time, the trial was delayed more than a year when Becker said Lewis had to hire another attorney because the lawyer’s firm represented a witness in the case. The Court of Appeals allowed Mike Brown to remain as Lewis’ lawyer.
The second time, Becker denied bond after Lewis was sentenced and then she left town, saying she would hold a hearing when she returned several days later. The appellate court ordered another DeKalb judge to set bond, which state law allows while a misdemeanor conviction is being challenged.
Reid and Pope remained in the state prison system.
Becker set a Jan. 9 hearing regarding the truthfulness of Lewis’s testimony.
Richardson, the DeKalb retiree, said this development will only make him the butt of more jibes from a Fulton County buddy. His friend, a longtime IBM executive, chides Richardson about the place he calls home. DeKalb has been buffeted by one political and criminal spasm after another in recent years.
“We’re like Detroit,” Richardson said.
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