Photos: APS defendant Tamara Cotman found not guilty

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Photos: A jury found defendant Tamara Cotman not guilty in the first Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal trial. September 2013.

A jury acquitted Tamara Cotman(right), a former area director with oversight of 21 schools in north Atlanta, of charges that she influenced a witness who claimed Cotman instructed principals to tell investigators to “go to hell.”

Cotman’s attorney, Benjamin Davis, argued during the trial that her case wasn’t about cheating even though prosecutors made it seem that way. He said Cotman never witnessed cheating or any other criminal behavior, and she didn’t attempt to stonewall investigators. - Mark Niesse and Bill Rankin, AJC

The first defendant in the Atlanta Public Schools test cheating scandal was found not guilty Friday, dealing a major blow to prosecutors’ efforts to hold those involved criminally responsible. A jury acquitted Tamara Cotman, a former area director with oversight of 21 schools in north Atlanta, of charges that she influenced a witness who claimed Cotman instructed principals to tell investigators to “go to hell.” -- Mark Niesse and Bill Rankin, AJC

The state investigation Cotman was accused of interfering with concluded in July 2011 that 185 educators had participated in cheating or should have known about it. The victims, the chief assistant district attorney, Fani Willis (not pictured), said, were children who didn’t get academic help because they scored well on tests. - Mark Niesse and Bill Rankin, AJC

Cotman's successful defense may have weakened the case against those facing charges on allegations of falsifying standardized test scores. - Mark Niesse and Bill Rankin, AJC

Cotman stood trial on a single felony count: influencing a witness. Her trial was a test case of what’s to come against other educators facing charges. - Mark Niesse and Bill Rankin, AJC

Tamara Cotman, the first defendant in the Atlanta Public Schools test cheating scandal, was found not guilty Friday, dealing a major blow to prosecutors’ efforts to hold those involved criminally responsible.

Fulton County DA Paul Howard talks to media after A jury acquitted Tamara Cotman, a former area director with oversight of 21 schools in north Atlanta, of charges that she influenced a witness who claimed Cotman instructed principals to tell investigators to “go to hell.”

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A jury acquitted Tamara Cotman(right), a former area director with oversight of 21 schools in north Atlanta, of charges that she influenced a witness who claimed Cotman instructed principals to tell investigators to “go to hell.”

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