The last day to enter a negotiated plea to Judge Jerry Baxter was Feb. 21. Christopher Waller and Sandra Ward pleaded guilty that day, bringing the final tally to 21 with 13 defendants remaining. Unless Baxter accepts more pleas, the 13 will be tried.

Waller is the former principal of Parks Middle School. He pleaded to a felony charge of making false statements, but he will not go to jail because he is a first-time offender. He will serve five years of probation, pay back $50,000 in restitution and complete 1,000 hours of community service. Waller and Millicent Few, the former head of human resources for APS, will play a key role in the prosecution’s case against the remaining defendants.

Similarly, Ward, an administrator at Parks Middle School, will testify for the prosecution in the trial.

Attorney Bob Rubin is one of few attorneys to file motions since the last day to enter negotiated pleas. Rubin filed a motion to sever on behalf of his client, Dana Evans (the former principal of Dobbs Elementary School). He suspected that several of the other defendants will jump in on the motion. Filing a motion to sever means that he is requesting that his client (and whichever other defendants join the motion) be tried separately from the other defendants. However, on March 18, Baxter denied Rubin’s motion to sever in a hearing.

Baxter also did not rule on a motion that Hall’s attorney made to exclude the erasure analysis from evidence.

Now that the original group of 34 defendants has been whittled down to 13, the number of witnesses is small enough for the trial to take place in the Fulton County Courthouse. It will begin on May 6 in courtroom 1C and jury selection starts on April 28.