The judge in the corruption case of suspended DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis told jurors they have heard from the final witness and heard the last of secret recordings that were at the center of the case and they would hear closing arguments on the charges of extortion, bribery and perjury on Wednesday.
“The evidence in this case is now closed,” Judge Courtney Johnson said, sending jurors home slightly early and telling them to be back at 10a.m. to begin hearing a total of four hours of closing arguments.
Ellis’ wife, who was not allowed in the courtroom because she was a witness, was finally allowed to take a seat behind her husband.
Prosecutors called only two rebuttal witnesses after Ellis’ defense team announced they were done.
The final witness to testify for Ellis was former Atlanta Mayor Andy Young, a character witness. The icon of the Civil Rights Movement said Ellis was honest and trustworthy and he would believe anything he said under oath. He was on the stand for only a few questions which were limited to his character.
Ellis testified over four days in defense of charges that he strong-armed vendors for campaign contributions and lied to a special purpose grand jury.
District Attorney Robert James tried to use Ellis’ own words against him by playing portions of his video taped testimony before a special grand jury in January 2013 and also what he said from the same witness stand last year, when he was first tried on the same charges of extortion, bribery and perjury.
“I’ve never promised anyone anything in exchange for a campaign contribution,” Ellis said during his testimony Tuesday morning.
He said in at least one instance that was captured on a secret recording made by the former head of purchasing and contracting it was nothing more than “trash talk” with Kelvin Walton, a department head he also considered a friend. Jurors heard, again, recordings of Ellis complaining to Walton about a vendor who wanted him to quickly sign a multi-million contract that had just been approved but she said in the same conversation with the CEO it would take time to process and delivered a $1,000 campaign contribution to Ellis.
“I did not promise her (the vendor) I would rush and sign her contract in exchange for a campaign contribution,” Ellis testified. “I did not promise her a contract in exchange for a campaign contribution. It was a joke and not quid pro quo.”
Ellis began testifying Thursday by trying to explain some of the circumstances around recordings that Walton secretly recorded; Walton agreed to be wired when investigators with the District Attorney’s Office said he could be charged with lying to a special grand jury.
Ellis also testified last year, when he first went on trial for the same charges. The jury in 2014 could not reach a verdict after 11 days of deliberations so Judge Courtney Johnson declared a mistrial.
James, with his cross examination, tried to show that Ellis was untruthful when he said under oath he doesn’t get involved in who gets work from the county.
Ellis tied to justify his actions under questioning from James. The prosecutor countered his explanation Tuesday by playing a recording of his testimony before a special grand jury looking into corruption in county government or by having Ellis read from a transcript of his testimony last year.
Ellis faces charges that he threatened companies that resisted donating to his 2012 re-election campaign. He faces charges of bribery, extortion and perjury, with a maximum sentence of 20 years imprisonment if he's found guilty on the most serious counts.
James played a recording in which Ellis told his purchasing director to “just let it expire,” referring to a county contract with Power and Energy Services, which declined to contribute to Ellis’ campaign and stopped receiving work from the county.
“I didn’t want to stop the contract of someone who was delivering a critical service to the county,” Ellis said in court.
Another contractor was also able to perform the same generator servicing work as Power and Energy Services.
Power and Energy Services is one of four contractors Ellis is accused of pressuring for campaign contributions.
Closing arguments in Ellis’ case are expected this week, and then a jury would begin deliberating the case.
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