DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis
Age: 56
Hometown: Washington, D.C.
Residence: Stone Mountain
Family: Married, two children
Education: Bachelor's degree in economics and finance, The University of Pennsylvania; Law degree, University of Texas at Austin
Occupation: Attorney, practicing real estate law; negotiation and collaborative problem solving instructor, Georgia State University School of Law
Political Experience: Served on the DeKalb County Board of Commissioners from Jan. 2001-Dec. 2008; Elected DeKalb County chief executive officer Nov. 2008; re-elected Nov. 2012; suspended from office July 2013.
Salary as CEO: $153,000
Criminal case: Appeared before special grand jury twice; testimony was basis for perjury charges; Indicted June 18, 2013, 12 felonies and two misdemeanors (one felony count dropped); Jury selection began Sept. 8 Opening statements made Sept. 16; Mistrial declared on Oct. 21.
Corruption case timeline
January 2012: DeKalb County District Attorney Robert James convenes a special grand jury to investigate allegations of corruption in the county's water department. There had been allegations of bid-rigging and kickbacks.
January-June 2012: DeKalb's top elected officials and administrators, including CEO Burrell Ellis, appear before the special grand jury.
Jan. 7, 2013: Investigators search the home and offices of Ellis and his former campaign manager, Kevin Ross, seeking information about campaign contributions from vendors. Ellis denies any wrongdoing. The search takes place while Ellis testifies before the grand jury.
Jan. 18, 2013: Special grand jury finishes its report. Attorneys for Ellis and Ross go to court seeking to keep it under seal.
March 21, 2013: The foreman of the special grand jury sues the judge overseeing the grand jury, hoping to force him to make its report public.
June 18, 2013: James announces an indictment of Ellis, accusing him of extorting campaign contributions from vendors.
July 15, 2013: A panel convened by Gov. Nathan Deal holds a hearing and recommends Ellis be suspended from office.
July 16, 2013: Deal formally suspends Ellis and names DeKalb Commissioner Lee May as interim CEO.
Aug. 21, 2013: The special grand jury's 81-page report is released. The report alleges a culture of corruption spanning two administrations, from the county's elected leadership to sewer employees and contractors. The report recommends that a dozen people be criminally investigated, including Ellis, Ross and former CEO Vernon Jones.
Jan. 16: A grand jury re-indicts Ellis on many of the same charges in the first indictment along with some additions, including one count of bribery and three counts of perjury. He now faces 14 charges in the case.
Jan. 23-24: Ellis' legal team and James face off in two days of hearings on a flurry of inflammatory motions, including accusations that James illegally videotaped Ellis during the investigation.
April 1: Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson denies requests from Ellis' attorneys to dismiss the case. Johnson also rejects their assertion that he's the victim of selective prosecution.
Sept. 8: Jury selection begins in Ellis' trial, which is expected to last several weeks. The trial is expected to feature secretly recorded conversations of Ellis and testimony from contractors that he sought campaign contributions from.
Sept. 16: After the jury has been selected, the testimony begin. Prosecutors begin calling vendors who said Ellis pressured them for campaign contributions.
Sept. 23: The prosecution's star witness, Kelvin Walton, DeKalb purchasing director, begins four days of testimony.
Oct. 1: Ellis takes the stand in his own defense, says he never pressured vendors for campaign cash or got involved in county contracts.
Oct. 6: Closing arguments end. Jury begins deliberation.
Oct. 21: Judge Courtney Johnson declares a mistrial after jurors failed to reach verdicts on any of the counts
Complete coverage
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution has delivered to our readers the most comprehensive coverage of the Burrell Ellis trial on our premium website, MyAJC.com/ellistrial/. Follow us online as we continue writing about the impact of this important case on DeKalb County.
On the site:
> Read the latest AJC stories and analysis.
> Browse an interactive that recaps key players in the trial.
> Review what star witness Kelvin Walton and CEO Burrell Ellis said during their testimony.
By the numbers
Days of jury selection
5
Days of testimony
14
Days of deliberation
11
Number of jurors
12 (All women; 2 male alternates and one female alternate)
Trial duration (in weeks)
6
Number of charges
13
Verdicts reached by the jury
0
A deeply conflicted jury failed to agree on the fate of DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, resulting in a mistrial Tuesday that brought an anticlimactic end to a case that sought to resolve allegations about government patronage and entitlement.
The lack of a clear outcome left a government plagued by accusations of corruption in limbo following a case that had been building for more than two years, leading to a trial that lasted six weeks.
District Attorney Robert James now has to decide whether to seek a retrial against Ellis, whom James accused of running a pay-for-play scheme where contractors were pressured to donate to Ellis’ 2012 re-election campaign under the threat of losing work. Ellis was indicted on 13 charges including bribery, extortion, theft and perjury. A gag order in the case prevented James from commenting about his next step.
Ellis, who shared quiet hugs with his wife and mother in court after the mistrial was announced, will remain suspended from his twice-elected leadership of the county. Interim CEO Lee May will continue to run the county until either Ellis returns to court or James drops the criminal charges.
The jury, made up of 10 black women and two white women, couldn’t reach a unanimous agreement over 11 days of deliberation on any of the 13 counts against Ellis.
Jury forewoman Susan Worthy said she thought Ellis should have been convicted on all counts, but the closest the jury came to a decision was an 11-1 vote for guilty on an extortion charge. On several other counts, the jury was truly split.
Worthy, a health care analyst, said prosecutors should retry Ellis “for the citizens of DeKalb County. They are due an answer.”
The jury had reported “personality conflicts” and lack of confidence in its forewoman on its forth day of deliberations, and Judge Courtney Johnson sent them home to cool off. When they returned, jurors elected Worthy their new forewoman.
The jury tried to work through its differences, but it was never going to agree, Worthy said.
“Passions were elevated,” she said in an interview with The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “In the end we would have stuck it out as long as we had to, but I don’t think we could have stayed for two more weeks.”
The jury was leaning toward acquitting Ellis on the two extortion charges involving Ciber, a company that offered technology consulting, she said.
At the same time, most jurors wanted to convict Ellis on three other extortion charges involving Power and Energy Services, an Austell company that had a contract to maintain generators, and National Property Institute, an Ellenwood company that rehabbed foreclosed homes. The charge involving National Property Institute was the one where only one juror wouldn’t vote to convict Ellis.
During the trial, Ellis’ own words worked both for him and against him.
Jurors heard Ellis caught on tape saying “cut the contract” and “dry them up” about companies that resisted giving him $2,500 contributions as he raised $1.5 million for his political campaign. He said on the recordings that it was “amazing” that a contractor doing business with the county didn’t understand why he should make a political contribution.
But when Ellis, a clear-spoken real estate attorney, testified in court, he may have created doubts among jurors.
Ellis said he never punished contractors who wouldn’t donate, but he expected them to return his phone calls and be polite. Ellis acknowledged, though, that his calls were always about campaigning and never about county business.
The secret recordings of Ellis were made by former DeKalb County Purchasing Director Kevin Walton, who spied on Ellis to avoid being prosecuted for lying under oath to a special grand jury. After Walton testified in the trial, he submitted his resignation to DeKalb County. He had previously been suspended with pay, collecting his $153,000 salary.
Jurors also heard testimony from each of the four companies Ellis was accused of strong-arming. They all said they felt threatened by Ellis’ aggressive fundraising tactics.
R.B. Williams, a retired DeKalb government employee who watched most of the trial, said he thought the jury was confused.
“It ended in suspense,” said Williams, who worked in the county’s Department of Watershed Management. “I think the prosecution will go further. Everything was proven.”
But others, like Lithonia resident Faye Coffield, said Ellis was the “least guilty” among a group of county commissioners and government employees accused of wrongdoing.
She said the prosecution should have focused on Walton or on ex-commissioner Elaine Boyer, who last month pleaded guilty to federal felonies and resigned.
“I don’t think he should have been the only one on trial,” said Coffield, who didn’t believe the evidence against Ellis was enough for him to be convicted. “It’s the biggest mess I’ve ever seen. It’s just plain, ordinary, outright madness.”
Until Ellis’ case is resolved, May will continue to lead the county. He was tapped by Gov. Nathan Deal soon after Ellis was indicted in June 2013.
May held a news conference immediately after the judge declared a mistrial to reassure DeKalb residents that business will continue uninterrupted.
“We are still paving our roads. We are still picking up trash,” May said.
In the meantime, Ellis is a free man who remains under a cloud of suspicion. He’s still suspended, and he will continue to collect his $153,000 salary, according to the Georgia Constitution.
“I’m happy about this outcome, but I wish it had been an acquittal,” said Patricia Ross, who watched the trial and described herself as a concerned citizen.
The mistrial “leaves the county in quite a lurch,” said Rep. Mike Jacobs, R-Brookhaven.
No one knows whether James will retry the case. No one knows whether Ellis will return to office.
“It’s a very difficult situation for the citizens of DeKalb,” he said. “The longer the position of CEO remains in limbo, the worse it is for the citizens. … I would hope for some closure at some point.”
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