An attorney for former Atlanta Superintendent Beverly Hall said Tuesday that her Stage IV breast cancer is progressing, and a judge should delay her trial.
A hearing has been scheduled for Monday to address Hall’s request, which could postpone the trial for six to eight months. The trial had been set to begin by late this month.
“She’s under a great deal of stress. She wants to go forward and try to vindicate herself if her body allows and her strength allows, but this is just something that her doctors have made clear that she is just in no position at this time to move forward,” said attorney Richard Deane at a press conference outside his Midtown office.
Hall, 67, has been charged in a racketeering conspiracy in the Atlanta Public Schools test cheating scandal. She has maintained her innocence.
She’s one of 13 former Atlanta Public Schools employees facing trial for their alleged involvement in falsifying students’ standardized test scores in 2009. Another 21 defendants have taken plea deals.
“We expect that Dr. Hall is simply not going to be available for trial, and she’s certainly not available to help us prepare for trial,” Deane said.
Her oncologist, Laura Weakland of Georgia Cancer Specialists, has recommended an “aggressive treatment” of chemotherapy to combat the cancer, Deane said.
The motion to delay the trial, filed in Fulton County Superior Court on Monday, said Hall’s first bout with breast cancer occurred in 2004, and then in 2011, doctors discovered it had spread to other parts of her body.
Doctors found late last year that the cancer’s progression has increased, the motion said.
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