Hearing date set on Hall’s request for medical delay
A Fulton County judge plans to consider Monday a request to delay the trial of former Atlanta Public Schools Superintendent Beverly Hall, who is battling Stage IV breast cancer.
Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter had scheduled the trial to begin by late this month, but Hall’s attorneys said her health condition and chemotherapy treatments would prevent her from participating. They asked for a delay of between six and eight months.
“She’s under a great deal of stress. She wants to go forward and try to vindicate herself if her body allows and her strength allows, but this is just something that her doctors have made clear that she is just in no position at this time to move forward,” said attorney Richard Deane at a press conference outside his Midtown office.
Hall, 67, has been charged in a racketeering conspiracy in the Atlanta Public Schools test cheating scandal. She has maintained her innocence.
She’s one of 13 former Atlanta Public Schools employees facing trial for their alleged involvement in falsifying students’ standardized test scores in 2009. Another 21 defendants have taken plea deals.
“We expect that Dr. Hall is simply not going to be available for trial, and she’s certainly not available to help us prepare for trial,” Deane said.
Her oncologist, Laura Weakland of Georgia Cancer Specialists, has recommended an “aggressive treatment” of chemotherapy to combat the cancer, Deane said.
The motion to delay the trial, filed in Fulton County Superior Court on Monday, said Hall’s first bout with breast cancer occurred in 2004, and then in 2011, doctors discovered it had spread to other parts of her body.
Doctors found late last year that the cancer’s progression has increased, the motion said.
“Put simply, Dr. Hall must focus on her health right now if she is to have a chance for successful treatment,” Weakland said in a sworn statement attached to the motion.
If Hall responds well to her treatments, it’s possible she could stand trial late this year, Weakland said.
About the Author
Mark Niesse is an enterprise reporter and covers elections and Georgia government for The Atlanta Journal-Constitution and is considered an expert on elections and voting. Before joining the AJC, he worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta, Honolulu and Montgomery, Alabama. He also reported for The Daily Report and The Santiago Times in Chile.
