Retrial of DeKalb CEO Ellis begins

The retrial of suspended DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis began this morning with jury selection, which will be crucial to the outcome of the case after Ellis' first trial ended with a hung jury.

Prosecutors and defense attorneys questioned the first 40 potential jurors this morning, asking them whether they have any biases or hardships that would prevent them from jury service. By the end of the day, 14 remained under consideration for placement on the jury.

In all, there are 200 people in the jury pool, which must be narrowed down to 12 jurors plus four alternates.

Jurors will have to decide whether Ellis is guilty of allegations that he used his political power to extract campaign contributions from contractors who do business with the county he ran. Ellis has denied wrongdoing.

Last October, an all-female jury couldn’t reach unanimous verdict on any of the counts against Ellis, resulting in a mistrial after more than six weeks in court.

The retrial may move more quickly after District Attorney Robert James last week dropped four out of 13 charges against Ellis, possibly streamlining the case.

The dropped counts of theft and coercion had alleged that Ellis ordered county employees to create lists of contractors that he could then use to solicit campaign contributions.