4:51 p.m. — Jurors asked the judge in the Burrell Ellis trial asked if they could leave "every day' at 5 p.m. They also said they wanted to again watch the video of the suspended DeKalb CEO's grand jury testimony. The jury and lawyers are going home for the evening. The jury deliberated about two hours Monday. They will return at 9 a.m. Tuesday
3:25 p.m. — Either DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis is a liar who intimidated county contractors for campaign donations, or he's a principled man fighting an overzealous prosecution.
The jury began deciding which version of events they’ll believe Monday after hearing closing arguments and three weeks of testimony. Ellis has pleaded not guilty to charges of bribery, theft, extortion and perjury related to accusations that he shook down contractors for political money.
District Attorney Robert James repeatedly called Ellis a liar, saying “liar, liar, pants on fire” during his closing argument.
“People were hurt. This isn’t a show. It’s not a game,” James said. “People were hurt, and they were hurt by him. He’s supposed to serve. He’s supposed to protect.”
But Ellis’ defense attorneys said the charges against him were flimsy attempts at convicting an honest man.
“He’s a good man, and it’s time for him to put this nightmare behind him,” said his lead attorney, Craig Gillen. “It’s time for him to move on. It’s time to put an end to this.”
Gillen said Ellis never made county business contingent on campaign contributions, and his statements under oath were truthful.
The government’s key witness, suspended DeKalb Purchasing Director Kelvin Walton, was behind any wrongdoing, Gillen said. Walton secretly recorded Ellis to avoid being prosecuted himself after he admitted lying under oath.
It’s unclear how long a jury would deliberate the 13 counts pending against Ellis.
If he’s found guilty on the most serious charge of bribery, he could face up to 20 years in prison.
If he’s acquitted, he would resume his job as the leader of DeKalb County.
2:58 p.m. – Jurors in the trial of DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis leave the courtroom to begin deliberations.
2:30 p.m. — The jury is listening as Judge Courtney Johnson reads instructions about how they should review evidence in the case.
Jurors will soon begin deliberating whether DeKalb County CEO is guilty or not guilty of charges including bribery, extortion, theft and perjury.
1:15 p.m. — Suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis sees the world backwards, District Attorney Robert James said.
Ellis is a public servant, James said, and not a king on a “pedestal.”
James said Ellis hurt people and endangered their livelihoods when he threatened to withhold county business.
“He’s supposed to serve. He’s supposed to protect,” James said. “They deserve his respect. They don’t deserve to be berated … over a campaign contribution.”
Minutes before the jury was sent to lunch, James urged jurors to look closely at the evidence.
“You won’t be able to find any single shred of evidence in any of this cases … that he was ever acting in the best interest of the citizens of DeKalb County, James said. “Burrell Ellis was acting int he best interest of Burrell Ellis and that’s not what we hired him to do. He’s a servant. He’s not a king.”
The jury will return at 2:15 p.m. for an explanation of the law and then they will begin deliberating.
12:56 p.m. — There was a quid pro quo when suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis asked county vendors for campaign contributions, District Attorney Robert James said.
He had county workers speed up the process of paying one vendor and just a few weeks after the payment was processed Ellis had a $2,500 campaign contribution, James said.
Ellis told DeKalb’s purchasing director to follow up with a losing vendor after the businessman said he couldn’t give to Ellis’ 2012 re-election campaign because he did not win a bid to provide janitorial services. Ellis told Kelvin Walton to take another look at the business.
“How is that appropriate?” James said during his closing argument in the corruption trial that started four weeks ago.
12:22 p.m. — District Attorney Robert James repeated called suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis a "liar."
He lied when he jury that vendors did not return his campaign solicitation calls, James said. And Ellis lied when he said he said he never threatened vendors who didn’t contribute to his political campaign, the prosecutor said.
“Liar, liar pants on fire,” James said in his closing argument.
“How many times does this man have to lie for us to stop believing what he says?” James said.
Like Ellis’ lawyers, James re-played snippets of secret recordings played already during his closing argument.
James said Ellis’ threats made to vendors who declined to give to his re-election campaign were obvious.
James said “it’s common sense” to see a threat in a conversation during which a vendor says ‘no’ to a campaign solicitation and the response from Ellis is “you won’t get any more (county) business.”
11:45 a.m. — District Attorney Robert James told jurors suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis is corrupt, not a public servant.
In his final statements to the jury, James said Ellis used his power over county vendors to push them to give to his 2012 re-election campaign, which had a debt of $150,000 that he would have to pay if donors did not give enough.
“That ain’t right. Is that what we elected him to do? Is that public service?” James said.
“This case is not about his public service. It’s about his public corruption,” the prosecutor said.
11:21 a.m. — Defense attorney Craig Gillen asked jurors to acquit suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis of all 13 counts against him because even one guilty decision will destroy him.
Don’t compromise to give prosecutors just one win,” Gillen said.
“If one verdict comes back that says guilty, then he is destroyed,” Gillen said in his parting words to the jury. “Please return a verdict that speaks the truth… Return a verdict of not guilty on every single count. Let’s put this nightmare behind us.”
Gillen said jurors should consider Ellis’ reputation and the people who stood up for him — former Atlanta Mayor and Civil Rights icon Andy Young and Congressman Hank Johnson.
“I don’t think there is a better tribute to a man who has … earned the respect of people like Ambassador Young and Congressman Johnson,” Gillen said.
“Good character is relevant information as to whether you believe he has committed crimes,” Gillen said.
When jurors return from a brief break, the prosecution will have two hours to make final arguments in hopes of convicting Ellis of corruption charges.
11:07 a.m. — A defense attorney reminded jurors that suspended DeKalb County CEO said several times in secretly-recorded conversations that giving to his re-election campaign was not required for vendors to get and keep county business.
Craig Gillen replayed snippets of some of the tapes in which Ellis and county purchasing director Kelvin Walton, the prosecution’s star witness, discussed his frustrations with the responses he received when he called vendors for campaign contributions. Ellis said how they treated him, as CEO, reflected on the county.
“If you don’t respond to the CEO, you don’t respond to the county,” Ellis said on one of the recordings replayed during closing arguments in his corruption trial.
In another recording replayed, Ellis told Walton “I do not want people to have a criteria” that they have to make campaign contribution in order to do business with DeKalb.
“It’s not about campaign contributions. It’s not,” Gillen told jurors. “And he made that very, very clear.”
10:27 a.m. — Defense attorney Craig Gillen when count-by-count telling jurors that the crimes detailed in the indictment against suspended DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis never happened.
In the instance of an Austell company, Power and Energy Services, it was little more than a misinterpretation.
Calling for a campaign contribution, a receptionist told Ellis that the company was “not interested in your services.” Ellis supposedly took that to mean the company did not want to work with DeKalb so he had the county’s purchasing department follow up, Gillen said.
Gillen said Ellis simply crossed off his list of potential campaign contributors — like Power and Energy — once they said “no” and then did nothing to harm them.
Gillen replayed a secret recording of Ellis talking with the county’s head of purchasing in which Kelvin Walton suggested ending work with Power and Energy. Ellis said “if we are not doing business with them,” the county should let the contract with Power and Energy to maintain county generators expire.
Gillen also continued the attack on the prosecution’s star witness, Walton.
“Lies. Lies. Lies. Lies,” Gillen says about Walton’s testimony before a special grand jury and then in court when Walton tried to portray himself as a victim of Ellis’ bullying.
“When I cross examined him, boy he came back at me,” Gillen said of Walton. “That shows you his personality…. He’s not the bullied coward. The real Kelvin Walton, Mr. Ellis didn’t know about him.”
Walton abused Ellis’ trust in him, Gillen said.
“He (Ellis) thought he could trust him with the business of the county. He thought he was someone worthy of trust,” Gillen said. “He saw him as a friend.”
9:47 a.m. — District Attorney Robert James complained that defense attorneys were telling jurors they could ignore the evidence that suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis broke the law and focus instead on the good he had done.
It was when Dwight Thomas told jurors that Ellis had “chosen” to be a husband and a father to send a message to young African American men.
“He decided to be a husband,” Thomas said. “Why? Because, ladies and gentleman, as a good husband he sends an image to a lot of our younger men that it’s OK to commit, that it’s OK to have a family.”
James said Thomas was arguing for “jury nullification,” which is jurors voting to acquit despite evidence of guilty.
The judge agreed and told Thomas to make a different argument.
9:23 a.m. — The jury that will decide if Burrell Ellis will retake his place as CEO of DeKalb County or go to prison took their places to hear the final arguments from prosecutors and defense attorneys Monday, four weeks to the day that they first walked into Judge Courtney Johnson's courtroom.
Johnson told the jury they will begin their deliberations this afternoon.
District Attorney Robert James waived his closing argument until after the defense had wrapped up. Usually the prosecution goes first.
Defense attorney Dwight Thomas began wrapping up Ellis’s case by attacking the prosecution’s star witness, Kelvin Walton, who was DeKalb’s chief purchasing officers.
9:04 a.m. — Jurors were scheduled to hear closing arguments Monday in the corruption trial of DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis, who is fighting charges that he strong-armed contractors for campaign contributions.
Prosecutors and defense attorneys have been given two hours each to make their arguments after three weeks of testimony.
Ellis has pleaded not guilty to 13 charges, including bribery, theft, extortion and perjury.
The 12-member jury and three alternates include 11 black women, two black men and two white women. Ellis could face up to 20 years in prison if he’s convicted on the most serious charge of bribery.
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