Prosecutors have dropped one of 14 criminal charges against suspended DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, who is scheduled to go on trial Monday.
The dismissed charge had accused Ellis of canceling the contract of a former insider who criticized him professionally.
An order by Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson on Thursday said prosecutors requested not to pursue the charge of conspiracy in restraint of open competition.
The indictment against Ellis had alleged that he instructed county employees to cancel the $40,000 contract for The Cornelius Group after the company's CEO, Brenda Cornelius, said she didn't support Ellis' re-election.
Cornelius had served on Ellis’ transition team after he was first elected in 2008.
Four years later, Cornelius was working on a public relations and marketing campaign to promote the county’s efforts to produce compressed natural gas from a county-owned landfill.
“It is uncomfortable and suspicious timing that when it became common knowledge that I am not supporting the CEO’s re-election, my contract suddenly was terminated,” she wrote in a letter to the county obtained by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution in January.
Court documents didn’t explain why the charge was dropped. A spokesman for the DeKalb district attorney’s office said Friday he couldn’t comment, citing a gag order in the case. An attorney for Ellis didn’t immediately return a phone message.
Ellis still faces bribery, theft, extortion and perjury charges based on accusations that he shook down county vendors for campaign contributions.
He has denied wrongdoing.
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