It was a notorious case that took more than three years to reach a courtroom — an education administrator was accused with her ex-husband of thieving from a construction fund for school buildings.
Pat Reid and Tony Pope are pulling time in prison after their 2013 convictions on racketeering and theft charges, but they could get a do-over, and the residents of DeKalb County might have to endure a trial all over.
That’s because the judge in the case, Cynthia Becker, sentenced star witness Crawford Lewis to time in jail, despite an agreement with prosecutors to give him probation. The former DeKalb superintendent was charged alongside Reid and Pope in the conspiracy, but agreed to testify against them for the opportunity to plead to a misdemeanor.
District Attorney Robert James let Lewis plead to one count of hindering and obstructing a law enforcement officer. After the trial, with the convictions in hand, James asked that Lewis get the agreed upon sentence: a year on probation.
But Becker balked, saying Lewis allowed the crimes to occur in his school district and then hindered the investigation. She sentenced him to a year in jail. When asked to reconsider, she questioned the “credibility” and “believability” of his testimony, “thereby implying that Lewis may have testified untruthfully,” says a new opinion by the Georgia Court of Appeals.
That court, on Thursday, overruled Becker, in a unanimous decision by a three-judge panel that essentially said Becker treated Lewis unfairly. The opinion, authored by Judge William Ray, sent the case back to Becker for resentencing. The judges said if Becker wants to put Lewis behind bars, she must tell him what, specifically was untruthful and give an opportunity to rebut.
Moreover, the appellate judges noted that if any testimony by Lewis that helped seal the fates of Reid and Pope was untruthful, then “such a finding may call into question the validity of the co-defendants’ convictions.”
Russell Gabriel, a criminal law professor at the University of Georgia, said that opens the door to a retrial.
“The implication here is if she (Becker) is intent on going forward, she risks the convictions being overturned,” Gabriel said.
Becker’s other options include relenting and giving Lewis probation, or recusing herself and passing the case to another judge — an option Lewis could also request.
Becker didn’t return a call for comment. Neither did Lewis’ attorney, Mike Brown.
Ashleigh Merchant, a criminal appeals attorney in Marietta, reads a lot of appellate decisions and said this one caught her attention. She saw it as a clear warning that Becker had crossed a line between neutrality and advocacy.
“It was sort of like, ‘hint, hint, hint, hey, you might want to let this one go,’” Merchant said. “It’s pretty harsh. It’s obvious they weren’t happy with what happened.”
J. Tom Morgan, Pope’s attorney at trial, supported the judge’s contention about Lewis’ credibility, though.
“I talked to several jurors, and they didn’t believe a word he said,” said Morgan, who served as DeKalb district attorney for a dozen years starting in the early 1990s. “The question is, who decides the truth, the prosecutor who cut the deal or the judge who heard the testimony?”
Staff writer Bill Rankin contributed to this article.
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