Beverly Hall’s death should have no effect on the outcome of the conspiracy trial of her former employees, assuming the jury doesn’t hear about it.
Hall was indicted with the dozen defendants now on trial but was excused from the case because of her illness. Her death should have no technical implications for the case, lawyers involved said.
Jurors in the long-running case are on a break until March 16. Before they left the courtroom last week, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter gave them the typical admonitions against consuming news reports.
Yet they are free to go about their lives — to the grocery store, to restaurants, to work, to school PTA meetings. They can talk on the phone with friends.
It wouldn’t take much for the talk of Atlanta to reach at least one of their ears.
Then what?
“I can’t imagine they’re not going to know,” said Bill Thomas, a former federal prosecutor who briefly represented an unindicted witness in the case. He said he thought the death of the woman accused of being the cheating scandal’s ring leader would engender sympathy for the other, lower-ranking defendants.
“You don’t want to try the least culpable without the most culpable,” Thomas said. “I think there’s a reluctance to hammer the person who played a small role.”
The prosecution will have to decide whether to raise the issue when the jury returns, he said, or whether to ask the judge to ignore it. “I think it’s going to be on everyone’s mind.”
Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard did not grant an interview. Instead, a statement was issued that the Fulton DA’s office was “sorry to hear that Dr. Beverly Hall has lost her fight against cancer” and that “heartfelt condolences” were extended to her loved ones.
Jeff Brickman, another former prosecutor who was briefly involved with the case, said he could see the news influencing the jury both for or against the defendants. A juror might, inappropriately, see this as the last chance to hold someone accountable, he said.
“It could, but it shouldn’t, have an effect on the way in which they deliberate,” said Brickman, who represented Willie Davenport, an educator who was indicted in this case but died before trial.
Were word to reach the judge that jurors knew about Hall’s death, Brickman said, he would have to investigate the extent to which all jurors were informed, then decide what to do. He could remove some jurors or, in the extreme, declare a mistrial, tossing out months of testimony from more than 160 witnesses. Defense attorneys directly involved in the case said they doubted that would happen.
Angela Y. Johnson, who is representing former Dunbar Elementary School teacher Pamela Cleveland, noted the impeccable behavior of the jury so far.
Attorneys and at least one witness have been late to court, but no juror was late during the nearly five months of testimony, noted Johnson. “So I don’t have any doubt that they’ll continue doing what they’re supposed to do,” she said.
Johnson, herself a former Atlanta Public Schools teacher, said she and her colleagues in court had heard that Hall “wished our clients well” and wanted to see the verdict.
“I’m really sad that she did not get a chance to see this through to the end,” Johnson said.
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