Atlanta Educators To Be Tried All at Once

Earlier this year during pre-trial hearings for the case, Fulton County Superior Court Judge Jerry Baxter joked the trial might be held in a grocery story due to the large number of defendants.

This week Baxter made it clear all would be tried at once.

And he suggested taking plea deals for those not wanting to be tried with the others.

WABE legal analyst Page Pate says that may be attractive to some of the educators.

“So if you’re charged with RICO, you’re looking at five years mandatory minimum maybe much more.

And they offer you a plea agreement to some lesser charge, who would not want to take that. And I really think that they [the prosecution] overcharged the case initially in order to get guilty pleas for lesser offenses.”

And Pate says the judge’s words are not just for the defendants.

“It was intended for the prosecutors meaning that look if we’re going to some of these cases resolved, you better be offering them some sort of reasonable plea offer, something less than RICO.”

RICO refers to the Racketeering charge all the educators face. Pate says Judge Baxter could decide to split the trial up and NOT try all thirty-four defendants at once.