Fireworks are expected Thursday morning between suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis and District Attorney Robert James, who are facing off in court over increasingly nasty and personal accusations in Ellis’ political corruption case.
Ellis says the 14-count indictment against him is the result of a political witch hunt by James. His legal team has also accused James of illegally videotaping Ellis during the investigation and failing to turn over the evidence as required.
James has accused Ellis of lodging “baseless accusations” and Wednesday convinced Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson to limit what both he and Ellis’ lawyers can say about the case.
Ellis’ lead attorney, Craig Gillen, could try to call witnesses who had worked in James’ office to make his case about the videotape. Gillen has also subpoenaed James as a witness.
The hearings begin at 9 a.m. in Judge Johnson’s courtroom.
The AJC will provide live Twitter updates of the proceedings at twitter.com/AJCDeKalb.
For a full report on the motions, visit http://bit.ly/1jpFLqD.
THE STORY SO FAR
A DeKalb County grand jury indicted CEO Burrell Ellis on June 18 on 15 criminal counts, 14 of them felonies. He is accused strong-arming vendors who do work with the county to contribute to his re-election campaign and threatening those who declined.
Gov. Nathan Deal, following the recommendation of a three-member panel, suspended Ellis from office on July 16. Deal then named DeKalb County Commission Presiding Officer Lee May as acting CEO.
On Jan. 16, a DeKalb County jury reindicted Ellis on many of the same charges brought in the first indictment and adding five new counts include one count of bribery and three counts of perjury. He now faces 14 charges in the case.
Ellis’ legal team and District Attorney Robert James have filed a flurry of incendiary motions in the case, including accusations that James illegally videotaped Ellis during the investigation. That accusation is among those to be heard in the Thursday’s hearing.
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