A second day of culling prospective jurors to hear the corruption trial of suspended DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis ended with almost enough in the pool to begin picking the final panel.
By the end of Tuesday, 34 prospective jurors had been qualified, just eight shy of the 42 needed before the panel of 12 and alternates can be picked..
“We should have a full panel tomorrow,” said DeKalb County Judge Courtney Johnson.
The rest of the almost 40 prospective jurors questioned individually Tuesday were excused because they had an unyielding bias or serving would be a hardship because they would not be paid for missing work or they had child care issues.
Johnson told the prosecutors and defense attorneys she expected the jury to be seated Friday and opening statements to be on Tuesday.
As she did on Monday, Johnson began the second day of jury selection with a warning to prospective jurors that they are to avoid media accounts of the case and they are not to talk about it with anyone, including others called for the trial.
Publicity around the case has presented a challenge for prosecutors’ and Ellis’ attorneys. Out of 40 questioned Monday, 14 remained under consideration to become jurors in the trial.
Many potential jurors said they’ve formed opinions about his guilt or innocence after hearing about news coverage of the case. Some recalled Ellis’ first trial last fall, which ended in a mistrial because the all-woman jury could not agree on verdicts for any of the charges.
Ellis, an attorney, is accused of using his power as the county’s leader to extort campaign contributions from contractors who do work for the county. Ellis has said he never punished contractors who refused to donate. He is charged with nine felonies; a conviction on any would mean he could not resume the office of CEO and he could lose his license to practice law.
Jury selection is expected to take most of the week. Opening statements are planned for next week and then jurors will begin hearing from witnesses. The trial is expected to last four to six weeks, Johnson has said.
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