As the hearing unfolds on motions in the criminal case of suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis Thursday, there are three primary names that will appear all day.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Burrell Ellis
DeKalb County’s chief elected officer, Ellis holds a post similar to a strong mayor in large jurisdictions, running nearly all of the daily business of Georgia’s third-largest county. A former county commissioner and real estate attorney, Ellis was first elected CEO in 2008 and was days into his second term when he became a public target of a political corruption case in January, 2013, when investigators from the district attorney’s office searched his home and office and seized campaign records and county contracts. The DA unveiled a 15-count indictment against Ellis in June, prompting Gov. Nathan Deal to suspend him from office. A grand jury re-indicted Ellis on 14 charges such as theft, perjury and bribery earlier this month.
Robert James
DeKalb County’s district attorney since 2011, James says a stint as an elementary school paraprofessional in a poor area of Atlanta helped steer him into prosecution. He is a former prosecutor in DeKalb and Rockdale counties who spent four years as DeKalb’s solicitor. In his short tenure, James has taken the lead in prosecuting Hemy Neuman for killing Rusty Sneiderman and convicting Sneiderman’s widow, Andrea, of several charges related to that case. He is expected to lead the prosecution of Ellis.
Craig Gillen
Ellis’ lead attorney, Gillen has been a private defense attorney for 20 years. Before that, he served as the assistant U.S. Attorney in the Northern District of Georgia and was deputy independent counsel during the Iran-Contra scandal in Washington. His successes include the prosecution of congressman Patrick Swindall in 1989 and serving as lead counsel in the indictment of former Secretary of Defense Caspar Weinberger.
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