Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard, in a heated runoff for reelection, recently tried to broker a deal for educators convicted in the Atlanta Public Schools test-cheating scandal that would have allowed them to escape prison time, lawyers familiar with the agreement said.
The negotiations occurred shortly after Howard received an endorsement from Atlanta attorney Christian Wise Smith, who finished third in the primary voting and had made his condemnation of the test-cheating prosecution a cornerstone of his campaign. The timing of these developments has led lawyers involved in the case to question whether Howard agreed to let the educators off the hook in exchange for Wise Smith’s support in the Aug. 11 runoff election.
One of those lawyers is Howard’s runoff opponent, Fani Willis, who headed the test-cheating prosecution when she was one of Howard’s top deputies. In an interview, Willis said she would never have agreed to accept an endorsement under such circumstances.
“Cases won’t be for sale under my administration,” she said. “Not for an endorsement, not for money, not for anything.”
In a statement, Howard did not directly address a question from The Atlanta Journal-Constitution as to whether he asked for the modified sentences for the seven former educators in exchange for Wise Smith’s endorsement. He also did not respond to a question as to why he allowed Wise Smith to attend the negotiations.
“After speaking with several members of our community, I have decided that reaching an agreement with the seven remaining defendants in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal case is the right thing to do,” Howard said.
“This incident has served as a source of discomfort to many citizens because of the RICO charges utilized in the case and the fact that several of the defendants were teachers,” Howard said, referring to the racketeering indictment. “I believe the time for healing has arrived.”
He added, “I believe the proposed settlement was a fair and just arrangement for all involved.”
Wise Smith said Howard’s agreement to seek a resolution favorable to the former APS educators was one of a number of reasons why he endorsed the DA.
After the primary, Wise Smith said, he approached both Howard and Willis about the APS prosecution. Willis, who confirmed this account, said if the educators could not apologize for harming the schoolchildren and admit their guilt she did not want to be involved, Wise Smith said. But Howard said he was willing to set up a meeting to see what could be worked out.
Under the agreement, the seven former educators, after agreeing to waive their appeals, would have had their sentences essentially voided. That’s because they were sentenced under the First Offender Act, which discharges a sentence when an offender successfully completes his or her probation. Under the proposed deal, the educators’ terms of probation would also have been eliminated.
But this week, Senior Judge Jerry Baxter, who oversaw the six-month trial more than four years ago, declined to accept the agreement, at least for now, said Bob Rubin, who represents former Dobbs Elementary School principal Dana Evans.
Rubin said he was disappointed there was no sentence modification for his client, who faces a year in prison if she loses her appeal. At the same time, Rubin said, the proposed agreement left him feeling uneasy.
“It was clear to me this was a political decision by Paul to curry favor with a third candidate,” Rubin said. “In my opinion, this was all about politics.”
Howard’s decision to eliminate the sentences for the seven former educators marked an abrupt departure from his recent comments on the test-cheating case. Shortly before the primary, Howard stood behind his prosecution.
“This case, from the perspective of our office, from the beginning to the end, was simply about children and about education,” Howard said during an online debate in May. “There are some factors that I think people should always realize about this case. One of those factors is 256,000 wrong-to-right answers. That’s the case that we prosecuted.”
During that debate, Wise Smith characterized the prosecution as a “witch hunt.”
“There were children hurt here, but I don’t think that rose to the level of felony prosecution,” he said.
Howard held firm. “It was a corrupt enterprise,” he responded. “It deprived children of their most basic right. And that’s the right to an education. ... So, no, I would not go back and change anything.”
Howard finished second in primary voting with 36% of the vote. Willis finished first with 43%.
“It was clear to me this was a political decision by Paul (Howard) to curry favor with a third candidate. In my opinion, this was all about politics."
Former DeKalb DA Bob Wilson, one of the governor’s special investigators in the APS test-cheating scandal, testified as a prosecution witness during the trial. In an interview, Wilson said the educators decided for themselves to fight the charges and were found guilty by a jury that heard all the evidence.
“You certainly do not, for political reasons, undercut a jury’s verdict,” said Wilson, who had donated money to Willis’ campaign. “That, to me, is an affront to our system of justice. If that happened, that’s a form of corruption. You’ve sold your soul.”
Of the seven educators in the deal nixed by Baxter, four were given one-year prison terms: Diane Buckner-Webb and Shani Robinson, both former Dunbar Elementary teachers; Theresia Copeland, a former Benteen Elementary testing coordinator; and Evans, the former principal at Dobbs Elementary. Tabeeka Jordan, a former Deerwood Academy assistant principal, was sentenced to two years in prison. Sharon Davis-Williams and Michael Pitts, both former school reform team executive directors, were sentenced to three years in prison.
Evans is now appealing her conviction before the Georgia Court of Appeals. The other six are pursuing a motion for a new trial before Baxter.
Said Howard, “Maybe Judge Baxter will reconsider so that our community can move forward and put this matter in our rearview mirrors.”
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