Sentencing hearing becomes emotional struggle

Judge Jerry Baxter asked defense attorneys to meet with District Attorney Paul Howard Monday afternoon to consider sentences that Howard is offering. Those could involve weekends in jail, community service, probation and fines, and the convicted educators will have to waive their rights to any appeals. If they do not accept, Baxter will sentence them.

For years they maintained their innocence, but now 10 former Atlanta educators convicted of racketeering in a test cheating scandal must make a harrowing choice: They must admit their crimes and accept a last-minute deal, or face sentencing by Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter, who has promised time behind bars.

During a sentencing hearing Monday, he challenged two educators and the attorneys for others who refused to take responsibility. At times, he seemed frustrated in the educators’ reluctance to accept guilt despite the jury’s decisive verdict.

“Why don’t these people take responsibility? The Devil’s over here saying ‘throw the book at them; they don’t accept responsibility.’ ”

But after hearing hours of emotional testimony from their friends, relatives and colleagues and a morning argument in his chambers with District Attorney Paul Howard, who negotiated the plea deals, he softened.

"I see all the pain in this room. It is a tragedy for all of you. You've been punished a good bit so far," Baxter said.

A jury convicted 11 educators April 1 on racketeering and other charges related to cheating on standardized tests in 2009. One teacher, Dessa Curb, was acquitted.

The 10 educators in court have been in jail nearly two weeks awaiting sentencing. The 11th person found guilty, Shani Robinson, wasn't in court because she gave birth Saturday and will be sentenced later. Baxter shocked lawyers and spectators after the convictions by ordering the convicted directly to jail. Images of former schoolteachers removing their jewelry and being placed in handcuffs were seen around the world.

Monday, he said that decision “maybe came from some divine message to me to just do it.”

“I thought I had a fair sentence,” he said. But, “This morning it came to me, the only reason I would send you to jail is for retribution. And I think I’ve made my point.”

Whether that is true will be seen at 10 a.m. Tuesday, when the 10 will either take a deal that could include weekends in jail, fines and probation, or take what sentence Baxter offers behind door No. 2.

The exceptional case's ending felt more like a political policy forum than a criminal courtroom, with testimony not only from the educators' friends, but from Andrew Young, the civil rights icon, former Atlanta mayor, congressman and ambassador to the United Nations.

The racketeering charge that each former educator was found guilty of carries penalties of up to 20 years in prison, but Baxter said he doesn't intend to incarcerate anyone for that long. But he does not intend to let them off lightly.

He exploded at District Attorney Howard before Monday’s hearing for negotiating weekend deals that would allow educators to avoid prison if they waived appeal.

Attorneys who were part of the discussion but did not speak for the record said Baxter was enraged that Howard was pushing a seemingly light sentence and questioned whether pressure from the public played a role.

Some of his response was harsh enough to prompt him to apologize at least three times in open court to Howard.

During the hearing, Baxter’s better angel whispered in his ear as he heard from the son who pleaded for leniency for his mother, the mother who pleaded for mercy her daughter, and Young, who pleaded for everyone.

“We have messed up education so much that tests and grades do not make you educated,” Young said. “I think these teachers got caught in a trap. Take this mess and make a good thing out of it.”

Former Dobbs Elementary principal Dana Evans spoke directly to the judge. During the trial, Evans drew sympathy from the judge and jury who felt she was a good person who made bad decisions under pressure.

But like all those convicted, she did not admit guilt.

“I know you may want to hear an admission of guilt, but I can’t do that because it’s not the truth,” she said. “But I am willing to say I’m sorry … for the distrust the public now has in public education. I’m sorry that I had teachers who elected to do things that were in opposition to what I told them to do, and I was unable to uncover it, and I am sorry.”

By the end of the day, Baxter appeared more open to the deals Howard brokered, which would reportedly mean punishments ranging from one year of weekends in jail and a $10,000 fine for former administrators to one year of home confinement and a $1,000 fine for former teachers. Under that compromise, the educators would have to admit guilt and waive their right to appeal. They all would be sentenced under Georgia’s First Offender Act, which would wipe clean their criminal records once they finished their sentences.

“I think the best thing for our community (is) for Paul Howard to talk to each of you and to enter pleas and for us all to go about our business, and to pray for these kids who got cheated,” he told the educators.

Now, all that stands in the way of the educators going home is an admission of guilt. That may be difficult for a group who, for years, have maintained their innocence, electing to go on trial while dozens of others pleaded guilty to lesser charges.

“This is a tough sell,” said Akil Secret, who represents former Deerwood Academy assistant principal Tabeeka Jordan.

“Everyone is willing to accept responsibility and apologize,” said Gerald Griggs, who represents former Dobbs Elementary teacher Angela Williamson. “I doubt she’s going to be willing to say she’s guilty of racketeering.”

Ben Davis, who represents former executive director Tamara Cotman, said she was not interested in the offer.

“We aren’t taking a deal right now,” Davis said as defense lawyers and prosecutors prepared to talk Monday afternoon. “The main thing is she doesn’t want to waive her appeal rights.”

Longtime defense attorney Bill Morrison, who did not represent anyone in the case, said it’s common for those convicted to walk the delicate line of seeking leniency while keeping their appeal options open.

“You don’t want to admit you are guilty of anything,” he said. “But you don’t want to say the system is unfair.”

Morrison, who's been an attorney in Atlanta for more than 30 years, said what's been unique about this case is the ongoing discussion, in and outside the courtroom, about what is an appropriate sentence.

Every seat in the courtroom was filled and about 80 people who didn’t fit gathered to watch the proceedings on a projector screen in an unused courtroom. When Baxter adjourned proceedings for the day, the crowd pushed out of the courtroom into the hallway where they held hands and prayed. A large group joined in “The Lord’s Prayer” as they sought the court’s mercy.

One of them was Joe Lane, the brother of former Dobbs Elementary fourth-grade teacher Angela Williamson, who said the convicted educators have a difficult choice to make.

“You just can’t admit to something you don’t feel you’ve done,” Lane said. “The whole moral of who we are is about what’s right and what’s wrong.”

Tom Tidwell, a parent of two children in Atlanta Public Schools, said he believes they should have to serve time in prison. He said all of those guilty should be incarcerated for at least two years, and the administrators who bore more responsibility should be put away longer.

“I hear what the families and supporters say, that it’s too harsh, but I fall into the camp that they asked for it,” said Tidwell, whose children attend an elementary and a charter school in Buckhead. “They rolled the dice, they know what they did, they thought they could beat the charges and they didn’t. There’s consequences to those choices.”

Tidwell could get his wish.

Baxter, who was prone to flashes of anger during the seven-month trial, warned that educators who do not take the deal will face stiff sanctions.

“I have the sentence in my mind and it involves going to jail, everybody,” he said.

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