APS Cheating Trial Now Goes To Jury
Closing arguments in the Atlanta test cheating trial ended yesterday. Twelve former educators face up to 20 years in prison for allegedly conspiring to cheat on state tests.
Defense attorneys questioned the credibility of some witnesses who said they saw defendants cheat. Some of those witnesses were indicted in the case, but struck plea deals. Attorney Gerald Griggs, who represents former administrator Angela Williamson, said the witnesses who testified against his client couldn’t keep their stories straight.
“The only consistency in that testimony was they said all this after they got a sweetheart plea deal,” Griggs said.
But Fulton County Senior Assistant District Attorney Clint Rucker rebutted that charge.
“These immunity agreements we made with these folks who were cheating to try to get at the truth, who came in, admitted what they did ─ seeking redemption, really ─ we [are] humans,” Rucker said. “We [are] just humans. They [are] good people; they did a bad thing.”
The judge will instruct the jury this morning. Then, jurors will start deliberating.
Note of disclosure: WABE’s broadcast license is held by the Atlanta Board of Education.
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