Twelve jurors and four alternate jurors were picked Wednesday for the first trial in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating case.
Opening statements and testimony are now scheduled to begin Friday in the case against former APS regional director Tamara Cotman, who faces a single count of influencing a witness. Her trial is expected to last two or more weeks.
Before sending jurors home for the day, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter instructed them not to discuss the case among themselves or read, watch or listen to news media reports about the case.
Fulton prosecutors have alleged that Cotman told 12 principals in late 2010 to write a “go to hell” memo to agents investigating test cheating at the principals’ schools. Over several months ending in February 2011 Cotman engaged in a “campaign of harassment” against former Scott Elementary School Principal Jimmye Hawkins, who attended the memo meeting and who Cotman believed had reported it to the school system, prosecutors have alleged in court filings.
Cotman strongly denies the accusations, her defense says. “Tamara is looking forward to clearing her name,” her lawyer, Benjamin Davis, said.
Cotman and 34 other former APS officials and educators also stand indicted for racketeering and other alleged crimes, and Baxter has set a trial date for that case in May 2014. Davis filed a speedy-trial demand for the influencing-a-witness charge, which is why this is the first case to go to trial.
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