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'A slow train wreck': Notable quotes out of today's APS sentencing
Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter presides over the sentencing Monday. Sentencing of 10 of the 11 defendants convicted of racketeering and other charges in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating trial before Judge Jerry Baxter in Fulton County Superior Court, Monday April 13 2015. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Kent D. Johnson, Pool)
Ten of the 11 former Atlanta educators found guilty of racketeering on April 1 are due to be sentenced Monday by Judge Jerry Baxter.
They face prison sentences ranging from five to 20 years because of the RICO (Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act) convictions.
The hearing, which includes testimony of character witnesses for the convicted, is still in session. Here are some of the more notable quotes from inside the courtroom.
"I'm not giving these folks 20 years." -- Judge Jerry Baxter, in a discussion with a defense attorney
“It was like watching a slow train wreck. No one got off." -- Baxter
“I am broke now. I have no retirement. All of it is gone." --f ormer Dobbs Elementary principal Dana Evans
“I know you want to hear an admission of guilt, but I can’t do that.” -- Evans
"Take this mess and make a good thing out of it." -- former Atlanta Mayor and U.N. Ambassador Andrew Young
"There's more to this than let's just forget about it and move on." -- Baxter
“These people ... still have very much to give to our society.” -- retired Fulton County Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore
"Tests and grades do not make you educated." -- Young
"I love teaching, and that is gone now." -- Donald Bullock, addressing Baxter
