The question put to jurors today is was architect Tony Pope a criminal or a sloppy record keeper?
The evidence is in and prosecutors and defenses attorneys are making their closing arguments today to the jurors hearing the racketeering and theft trial against Pope and his ex-wife Pat Reid, the former chief operating officers for DeKalb County Schools.
Charged with manipulating construction contracts to benefit themselves, the one-time couple is facing decades in prison if they are convicted; 65 years for Reid and 30 years for Pope.
The jurors heard briefly from Assistant District Attorney Lawanda Hodges and then Pope’s defense lawyers John Petrey and J. Tom Morgan offered their summations. After a lunch break the jurors will be be back arguments from Reid’s attorney, Tony Axam, and more from prosecutors.
When Reid was hired away from her husband’s firm where she was vice president to fix and oversee DeKalb schools trouble construction program, one of the conditions was that Pope could not get any new contracts with the district, but he could still complete the work he was doing in the first phase of renovations of Columbia High School.
But prosecutors say, Reid gave Pope new work on the Columbia project by persuading the school board to approve it as an addendum to his existing contract. Prosecutors also said Reid manipulated the bidding system for renovations at the McNair Elementary School Cluster so that a friend, unindicted co-conspirator David Moody, would win the construction contract and then use Pope as the architect but not disclose his role.
Hodges described the case as one “about a marriage, manipulation and money.” She said Reid and Pope conspired with each other to take “money from DeKalb County school children.”
But Morgan answered said that Pope and his firm, A. Vincent Pope & Associates, legitimately received the more than $1.4 million that prosecutors say either over billed or for contracts he was not eligible to get.
“Where’s the crime?” Morgan said.
“A mistake is not a theft,” Morgan said. “We all make mistakes. People in business make mistakes. Doctors make mistakes. Architects make mistakes. Lawyers make mistakes. Tony’s wife was the brains behind the business. Tony was an architect.”
Even the contention that there was a conflict of interest has not legitimate, Morgan said, noting that there was no written code of ethics and the limits on Pope were not included in the contract his wife signed when she was hired.
“They are accusing him of doing something wrong … that the DeKalb County School Board authorized him to do,” Morgan said. “Tony Pope did not steal anything from the DeKalb County School System. He gave an honest day’s work and he got an honest day’s pay. His fees were justified. He made a billing mistake. If he didn’t steal a dime.”
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