Recent allegations lodged by suspended DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis against District Attorney Robert James are baseless and rely on “blatant falsehoods,” the county’s top prosecutor said in court motions filed Monday.
In a flurry of incendiary filings, James strongly denied accusations he misappropriated county employees and engaged in illegal activity during the investigation that led to Ellis’ indictment on public corruption charges. The allegations are expected to be aired during contentious court hearings scheduled to begin Aug. 23.
Last week, Ellis’ legal team accused James of illegally videotaping Ellis during the corruption probe. It cited a covert video recording taken from a “super spy” wristwatch worn by Kelvin Walton, the county’s purchasing director, who has been cooperating with prosecutors.
The recording was made without a court order and was illegal because it happened in a non-public place without Ellis’ consent, the motion alleged. The motion also noted that an unidentified member of the District Attorney’s Office had warned James about the misconduct.
On Monday, DeKalb prosecutors said Ellis’ motion relied on anonymous sources and baseless accusations.
“The personal and hostile tone of the pleading, coupled with unsupported allegations of very serious wrongdoing, deserve no more credence than the remainder of the baseless charges leveled by defendant Ellis,” the motion said. “Any allegation of wrongdoing on behalf of the district attorney is flatly denied and deserves no more comment than that.”
In November, Ellis’ lawyers accused James and interim CEO Lee May of using county employees to raise money for a gala that was nothing more than a political event used to promote their own agendas. Ellis’ motion said the gala — the 2013 Senior Ball, a county function held June 8 at the Hyatt Regency Atlanta — was funded with $25,500 in contributions from vendors and companies that do business in DeKalb.
Ellis’ attorneys noted that Ellis stands indicted for theft of county property because he used county employees to allegedly strong-arm contractors for campaign contributions.
But James, in a motion filed Monday, said Ellis’ claims are a desperate effort to deflect attention from his own illegal conduct.
“The defense argument is as ridiculous as it is meritless,” DeKalb prosecutors said. “… All rational persons must agree that a man who cannot tell the difference between funding an event to benefit senior citizens and the theft/extortion shakedown offenses charged in the instant indictment is not (a) credible source of accusation.”
Also Monday, DeKalb prosecutors revealed some of the witnesses they used to build their case against Ellis.
They made this disclosure when responding to a motion filed by Ellis’ legal team that seeks to suppress evidence seized from Ellis’ home and offices. Ellis’ lawyers have said the judge who granted the search warrants was never told that Walton, the prosecution’s key informant, was an unreliable witness because he had failed repeated polygraph tests when asked about his own misconduct.
DeKalb prosecutors said several witnesses corroborated the information Walton had provided. Among them: then-Commissioner Lee May; Omotayo Idowu, president of Desmear Systems; DeKalb Recorder’s Court Chief Judge Nelly Withers; Commissioner Sharon Barnes Sutton; and former Fulton County Commissioner Michael Hightower.
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