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> Read court documents and review a timeline of the corruption probe.
Until Thursday, an informant in the corruption trial of DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis painted him as a two-faced “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde” who would say one thing and do another.
But then jurors also saw the split personality of the informant, DeKalb Purchasing Director Kelvin Walton, an admitted liar who turned on his boss to save himself from possible criminal charges.
The cross-examination of Walton was a turning point in the trial, as Ellis’ lawyers finally had an opportunity to criticize Walton and to question his motives.
Ellis, who has been suspended from office, has denied wrongdoing and pleaded not guilty to bribery and extortion charges. Prosecutors say Ellis bullied businesses into giving him money for his 2012 re-election campaign.
Defense attorneys for Ellis attacked Walton’s credibility, saying he wore a wire to covertly record Ellis in a scheme to help bring down the leader of DeKalb, a county larger than Atlanta or Detroit with a $1.2 billion annual budget. He lied to investigators until he could lie no more, they said.
Walton began working against Ellis after he lied under oath to a special grand jury in 2012, when he said he hadn’t accepted gifts or favors from county vendors. When confronted about his deception, Walton admitted he had used the services of a landscaper without paying for them, and he agreed to wear a hidden recorder to avoid being prosecuted himself.
Walton, who is under suspension with pay, has testified he was nothing more than a “yes man” for Ellis, doing his boss’ bidding just to keep his job at least 18 months more, long enough to be eligible for an early county pension.
But when confronted by Ellis’ defense attorneys Thursday afternoon, Walton’s lies became a focus of the trial.
“So you left your moral compass at home that day?” Craig Gillen, the lead attorney for Ellis, asked in reference to Walton’s appearance before the special grand jury. “You didn’t want to be indicted, did you?”
No he did not, Walton responded.
Walton testified that Ellis treated him like “his campaign manager,” ordering him to create lists of county contractors that Ellis could call to request campaign contributions.
But on some of Walton’s recordings, Ellis stressed that he didn’t want names of vendors who had contracts pending; he only wanted names of those companies already doing business with the county.
“I do not want people to have a criteria that they give to me as to whether they can do business,” Ellis said on a recording. “I want to be careful. You know, I don’t call these people when they are actively bidding on stuff.”
There was at least one exception, however.
Ellis called Terry Merrell, the chief financial officer of a biosolids company, Merrell Bros., when the company’s $4 million contract to dispose of wasterwater was in doubt because of issues with a small local business partner.
Ellis, in a recorded phone call, offered to make inquiries to get the proposed change in the Merrell Bros. contract approved. Merrell immediately called the county’s procurement office to withdraw from the contract.
“I can’t have any part in getting a contract that was influenced in any way, shape or form by anybody,” Merrell told Walton. “I want to win it fair and square.”
Like no other day in the trial so far, emotions were high Thursday.
Gillen asked for a mistrial when prosecutor Lawanda Hodges referred to Walton as Ellis’ co-conspirator.
Hodges apologized for the characterization.
And later Gillen also apologized to Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson for raising his voice to her.
Then the judge lectured everyone about behaving “professionally.”
Yet the animosities between Gillen and Walton persisted, and they likely will continue. Gillen will resume his cross-examination of Walton in court on Friday morning.
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