One woman had a wedding — “my wedding” — to attend. One man said he is disgusted with what he has learned about the case so far. Another woman broke down when contemplating how she could stay on top of her job and keep up with her four children, including 5-year-old twins.
These three, and dozens more, were excused this past week from jury duty for the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating trial. The trial’s expected length of at least three months is producing unbearable hardships for many summoned to serve. Intense pretrial publicity, including the nature of the charges, has also evoked strong feelings from many potential jurors who said they could not fairly and impartially pass judgment on the accused.
The tedious pace of jury selection is now expected to delay individual questioning of qualified jurors until after Labor Day.
“We might set a record,” Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter said, perhaps in jest, during one point in the proceedings this past week.
On Monday, Baxter will consider a challenge based on the racial composition of the 600-member pool of prospective jurors called to the courthouse.
Defense attorney Bob Rubin, who filed the motion on behalf of all 12 defendants, said a review of the pool found that African-Americans are greatly underrepresented. Blacks who are eligible for jury service in Fulton constitute 46.35 percent of the population, yet account for just 35.22 percent of the jury pool, his motion said.
All of the former administrators and educators charged in the racketeering indictment are African-American. They are accused of conspiring to change students’ answers on standardized tests.
If Baxter decides more hearings are needed to find out why blacks are so underrepresented in the pool, jury selection may have to be suspended.
As for now, more jurors with hardship pleas and those whose answers on questionnaires suggest they cannot be fair are scheduled to return to court this week.
Baxter has said he won’t make jurors jeopardize their financial well-being if they have to lose substantial income during the trial. He also said he does not want to inconvenience those with planned vacations and prepaid airline tickets and reservations. Many have already been excused for those reasons.
Defense lawyers have quickly learned that a number of potential jurors, identified only by their numbers, hold strong feelings about the test-cheating scandal.
Juror No. 64 said he had worked hard and took on debt to put his two sons into a private school.
“I wanted nothing to do with the public school system,” he said. “I don’t feel like I can put my prejudice aside.”
Juror No. 160 said he believed the Atlanta Public Schools system was a “dysfunctional mess.” Then, looking over to the defense tables, he said one reason he feels that way “is a lot of the people sitting here.”
Baxter excused both men.
Conversely, Juror No. 103 said he was “leaning toward the defense” because his daughter, who worked for one of the schools involved in the scandal, told him “it was basically a witch hunt.”
“It’s hard for me to believe none of these teachers here have any integrity,” he said.
Smiles appeared on a number of defendants’ faces after that answer, but they vanished when Baxter excused the man from service.
Jury selection has also touched off divisions in the defense.
One prospective juror, a teacher, said she believed it would be a challenge for her to be fair and impartial.
“I have gone through some of the pressures teachers go through as far as testing is concerned … pressure generally felt from a superior,” she said.
Defense attorney Keith Adams, who represents former teacher Diane Buckner-Webb, asked the juror if she could still follow the law and the judge’s instructions in spite of her concerns.
The teacher gave Adams the answer he wanted to hear. “I can listen to the evidence and judge based on that,” she said.
But Teresa Mann, who represents former School Reform Team executive director Sharon Davis Williams, objected to the woman being a potential juror, citing her bias against supervisors.
Baxter agreed and excused her. “I think she would pose a problem to these administrators who allegedly put pressure on the teachers to cheat,” he said.
Attorney Sandy Wallack, who represents former teacher Dessa Curb, shot up out of his chair. This dynamic, he told Baxter, shows why separate trials should be held for separate defendants.
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