Defense attorneys update judge on status of pending case against former DeKalb school superintendent, COO, contractor

Attorneys in the racketeering case against former DeKalb School Superintendent Crawford Lewis, his one-time chief operating officer and her former husband said Monday they are in the final stages of exchanging evidence and they should be ready soon to go to trial.

The case against Lewis, Pat Reid [formerly Pat Pope] and her former husband, contractor Anthony Pope, is scheduled to be tried next month but prosecutors and defense attorneys are still going over each others' evidence, known as discovery. So far, DeKalb County prosecutors have given the three defense teams 360 boxes of documents, according to court filings.

"That's tens of thousands of pages," Tony Axum, Reid's attorney, said, adding that the lawyers were still going through boxes and cataloging the papers.

Most expect the trial will be rescheduled from September. It could be set for as early as October or as late as early next year.

All three are charged with racketeering and stealing from taxpayers. Lewis and Reid also are charged with using their positions to enrich themselves, taking tickets from contractors to professional and college sporting events, shows and balls. Reid, who was at one time a partner in her then-husband's business, is also accused of steering construction projects worth millions of dollars to Pope.