A former husband and wife, sent to prison for illegally manipulating construction contracts for personal gain, were on the verge of being freed Tuesday, despite guilty verdicts rendered by a jury last year.
The Georgia Department of Corrections received an order Tuesday from DeKalb County Superior Court Judge Cynthia Becker to release Pat Reid and Tony Pope as soon as possible.
The two were found guilty of racketeering charges in December, but the judge reversed their convictions and ordered a new trial in response to a Court of Appeals decision that went against her in the case.
Becker said she didn’t believe the testimony of a key witness against them, former DeKalb schools Superintendent Crawford Lewis. Lewis made a deal with prosecutors to plead guilty to a misdemeanor in exchange for his truthful testimony against Reid and Pope.
The agreement was Lewis would serve 12 months on probation and perform community service, but Becker sentenced him to jail.
Reid, once the construction chief for DeKalb County schools, was sentenced that same day to 15 years, and Pope, an architect, was sentenced eight years. Both have served 10 months.
Prosecutors have argued that Lewis kept his part of the deal and should have received a 12-month probation sentence.
The Georgia Court of Appeals threw out Lewis’ sentence last week and said if Lewis was untruthful, that could jeopardize Reid’s and Pope’s convictions. Becker responded by granting Reid and Pope new trials. That sent prosecutors scrambling to keep the pair incarcerated and reverse Becker’s ruling, but the Court of Appeals didn’t take any action the emergency filings.
While their lawyers worked in Atlanta to get them released, Pope was on an inmate work detail sent from Jackson County Correctional Institution in Jefferson and Reid was at the Whitworth Women’s Facility in Hart County, both low-security institutions.
Lewis is free while his appeal is pending.
DeKalb prosecutors called Becker’s decision “reactionary,” “premature” and “unlawful.”
Prosecutors also wrote Becker’s order was an overreaction to the Court of Appeals decision against her.
Prosecutors filed notice that they would ask the Georgia Supreme Court to review the case, as well.
Becker’s strong wording in her order on Monday was in line with the stern words she had for Lewis at his sentencing last Dec. 9.
“Your behavior was abhorrent,” Becker said to Lewis.
Becker then told Lewis’ lawyers she wasn’t impressed with him.
“He was a public official. This was on his watch,” Becker said.
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