DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis shouldn’t get a sneak peak at the report from a special grand jury that spent a year looking into allegations of corruption in county contracts, the prosecutor says.
DeKalb District Attorney Robert James argues that the grand jury has yet to be dissolved and could “continue with the same investigation.” James will add that argument to his appeal of Superior Court Judge Mark Anthony Scott’s decision to allow Ellis and his former campaign manager, attorney Kevin Ross, to read the report to see if the jury exceeded its authority.
That appeal, along with the new arguments, will be decided by the state Court of Appeals. The court has yet to put the case on its crowded docket, keeping the report under seal and out of the public eye more than a month after it was expected to be published.
“You’re talking anywhere from two months to four months, maybe longer, before we see it,” criminal defense attorney Steve Sadow, who is not connected to the case, said.
The additional appeal, filed Wednesday in Superior Court, is the latest shot in an escalating legal battle that began when James convened the special grand jury in January 2012. Its mission: to look into possible corruption in county water and sewer department contracts.
By law, the investigation was conducted in secret. However, several county officials acknowledged they had appeared before the panel. All said they were asked about county contracts and procedures.
The probe took a public turn in January, when agents from James’ office searched the homes and office of Ellis and Ross. Search warrants show investigators seized campaign records and contracts with county vendors that Ross represented, looking for evidence of bid-rigging, kickbacks and other crimes.
Ellis and Ross have not been charged with any crimes. Both deny any wrongdoing.
The special grand jury completed its investigation two weeks after the searches and submitted its report to Scott, who was expected to dissolve the jury and publish the report.
Instead, attorneys for Ellis and Ross filed motions claiming the grand jury exceeded its authority and seeking to stop the DA from using information from the probe in a separate criminal investigation.
Scott has yet to hold hearings or rule on those arguments. As a result, the findings have remained under seal and the special grand jury remains intact.
The jury’s foreman wrote a letter to Scott on behalf of all members after the judge’s decision to give Ellis and Ross a 10-day window to review the report. Their attorneys say in court documents they did not read the grand jury’s findings because of the appeal.
Foreman Albert Trujillo’s Feb. 12 letter reminded Scott that the “voting taxpaying” jurors spent a year on an investigation they expected to be released to the public.
“We made recommendations for the betterment of DeKalb County and believe that this information needs to be made public without delay,” he wrote.
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