Plea deals in APS cheating case: Good legal strategy or admission of weak case?
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I ran an opinion piece last month from former state lawmaker E. Wycliffe (Wyc) Orr, an attorney in Gainesville. He argued that the felony prosecutions of 35 educators implicated in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal was an expensive and ill-conceived overreach by the Fulton DA, writing:
One of life's simplest lessons in education is to "look before you leap." Prosecution was a bad idea whose time had not come --- and shouldn't have. Too bad no one will intercede and reverse that ill-considered decision. But in today's political environment, government officials would rather that bad decisions persist regardless of the costs, than admit the error necessary for a reversal of course.
I asked him about the spate of plea deals this week and last in the APS case in which defendants are pleading down to misdemeanors and walking out of court with probation.
On Tuesday, former assistant principal Gregory Reid became fifth educator and the highest-ranking thus far to win such a deal. Fulton prosecutors dismissed racketeering and three other felony charges in exchange for his guilty plea and his cooperation. Reid pleaded guilty to two misdemeanor counts of obstruction. The judge sentenced Reid to two years on probation and