Twelve defendants and 12 jurors began the final leg of the marathon Atlanta Public Schools cheating trial Monday morning as lawyers opened three days of closing arguments.
Before jurors came in, prosecutors dropped one minor count each in the 29-count indictment against two of the defendants, former Benteen Elementary School testing coordinator Theresia Copeland and former regional director Sharon Davis Williams, who both still face the most serious charge of racketeering. The other 10 defendants also are charged with racketeering for allegedly conspiring to change students’ scores on the 2009 Criterion-Referenced Competency Test. They could be sentenced to 20 years in prison if convicted.
Jurors were smiling Monday as they returned from a break of more than two weeks. Judge Jerry Baxter told them that closing arguments most likely will be completed on Wednesday, and then they will start deliberating. The 12 jurors and seven alternates first showed up at the Fulton County Courthouse in early August 2014 and testimony began in late September.
“You all are the right people in the right place at the right time to do the right thing,” prosecutor Clint Rucker said.
Prosecutors will have as much as five hours to summarize their case, breaking their time in half so they will have the first and final words before the jury leaves to discuss months of testimony and evidence. Each attorney for the 12 defendants will have an hour each.
Initially 35 people were indicted two years ago following an investigation kicked off by a series of stories in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution about unrealistic improvements in CRCT scores. Twenty-one people pleaded guilty to lesser charges, and two others died of cancer before trial. The first was former D.H. Stanton principal Willie Davenport, who died in September 2013. The second was former Superintendent Beverly Hall. She was to be tried separately because breast cancer had left her too weak to be tried with the other 12 defendants. She died two weeks ago.
In months of testimony, prosecutors outlined a culture of intimidation and reward as part of the alleged cheating conspiracy. Defense attorneys told jurors the witnesses who testified against their clients were motivated by revenge because of disputes or punishments during the times they were teaching. Defense attorneys called witnesses who described their clients as caring and innovative educators.
Rucker told the jurors they were deciding a case that is “unprecedented in our community. I would go so far as to say historical.
“Each and every one of them is guilty, guilty, guilty,” Rucker said. “What happened to our children, it was sad, it was ugly. They were cheating and it’s not right and I’m asking y’all to do something about it.”
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