DeKalb Superior Court Judge Daniel Coursey said Friday that he will hear arguments about whether to make another judge release a special grand jury’s report. But his decision will take a while. Coursey said it will be several weeks before both sides’ arguments are in.
A special grand jury has been investigating possible corruption in county contracts. Its report has been kept sealed because the judge overseeing the panel, Judge Mark Anthony Scott, ruled that DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis and his former campaign manager, Kevin Ross, could review the document before it became public.
District Attorney Robert James appealed Scott’s decision to the Court of Appeals, which is weighing that case.
Meanwhile the grand jury foreman, Albert Trujillo, asked Coursey to order Scott to release the panel’s findings.
If Coursey agrees with Trujillo, the report would be submitted to all Superior Court judges for review. If the full bench has no questions, it would then be made public.
Ellis and Ross requested to see if they are named in the report after searches at their homes and offices in January. The district attorney’s office said those raids were in search of evidence of crimes such as bid-rigging.
Attorneys for Ellis and Ross argue they should be able to propose redactions if the report contains embarrassing and extraneous information about them.
Also Friday, James’ office withdrew a second petition that would have stopped Scott from releasing the report while other legal arguments play out. In an order Thursday, Scott said he would refrain from action, making an injunction unnecessary.
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