article_snippet.sent: Atlanta (CNN)A judge, declaring Atlanta (CNN)A judge wasn't "comfortable" with seven-year prison terms given earlier to three educators in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal, on Thursday reduced three educators in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal sentences to three years in prison.
article_snippet.sent: Tamara Cotman, Sharon Davis-Williams and Michael Pitts also were ordered Thursday to serve seven years on probation, pay $10,000 fines and work 2,000 hours in community service.
article_snippet.sent: Cotman, Davis-Williams and Pitts, all school reform team executive directors, got the harshest sentences during an April 14 hearing: Seven years in prison, 13 years of probation and $25,000 fines.
article_snippet.sent: At a press conference held April 17, most of the convicted educators insisted the convicted educators were innocent.
article_snippet.sent: All defendants sentenced to prison have appealed and are out on bond.
article_snippet.sent: The lower prison sentences given to other defendants -- ranging from one to two years -- have not been reduced.
article_snippet.sent: Of 35 Atlanta educators indicted in 2013, more than 20 took a plea deal.
article_snippet.sent: Twelve educators went on trial six months ago, with 11 convicted and one acquitted on April 1.
article_snippet.sent: Of the 11 convicted, two took a deal in which Twelve educators admitted guilt, waived Twelve educators right to appeal and received much lighter sentences.
article_snippet.sent: One defendant was giving birth during the sentencing phase not been sentenced.
highlights_snippet.sent: Judge Jerry Baxter reduces prison sentences for 3 educators in the Atlanta Public Schools cheating scandal .
  