DeKalb CEO Tries to Get Case Against Him Thrown Out of Court

January 24th, 2014

Attorneys for suspended DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer Burrell Ellis spent the last two days trying to get the corruption case against him thrown out of court.Broadcast Version

Defense attorneys say charges against Ellis should be dropped because Ellis has not been afforded the rights of a peace officer. That includes the right to attend the grand jury proceedings that led to his indictment.

Tasked with leading public safety departments, Ellis’s job as CEO constitutes that of a peace officer who maintains public order, according to Ellis’s attorney Dwight Thomas. “The board of commissioners doesn’t do it. They’re the legislative branch,” Thomas argued before the court Friday. “The Superior Court of DeKalb County doesn’t do it. Interpretation is what the judiciary does. Then who enforces the law? Who maintains the public order? There’s only one more branch.”

Prosecutor Chris Timmons disagreed with that definition of peace officer.

“What they are hanging their hat on is the phrase ‘maintain public order.’ What that means is to go out and contain riot scenes or contain or arrest the drunk and disorderly. It doesn’t say the person who hires the people who actually go out to maintain that public order.”

DeKalb Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson made no ruling on that defense motion or another motion asking that the DeKalb District Attorney’s Office be disqualified from handling the case. Judge Johnson did say she will hear at least two more days of motions testimony in March.

No trial date has been set for Ellis; he faces charges a long list of charges, including of theft, extortion and perjury, in connection with allegations that he tried to strong-arm county vendors into contributing to his campaign fund.