Judge Rules Against Burrell Ellis Defense on Eve of Trial

The defense team for suspended DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis faced more legal setbacks Monday as jurors braced for a trial that could easily last a month.

Superior Court Judge Courtney Johnson has ruled that Ellis can’t claim he was set up and can’t speculate about the racial biases of a vendor he is accused of seeking bribes from, reports The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

Johnson also found that Ellis’ defense team committed violations by not turning over thousands of pages of documents. Prosecutors will be allowed to present recordings of Ellis discussing whether “six-figure” county employees had contributed to his re-election campaign, the judge also decided.

Ellis faces 14 felony charges, ranging from bribery to theft, which he has consistently denied.

The trial starts Tuesday morning. When jurors were selected Friday, Johnson told the 12 jurors and four alternates that they could be away from work for more than a month, WSB TV reports.

Earlier Court Rulings

In an April ruling, a judge sided with prosecutors on two arguments, reports WSB TV. The judge decided to allow secret audio and video recordings of Ellis to be used against him and the judge will allow testimony Ellis made during a special grand jury investigation. Prosecutors say Ellis perjured himself in that testimony.

Earlier in the spring Ellis’ team lost a battle when a judge ruled that District Attorney Robert James would not be disqualified and the case will not be dismissed.

Attorneys for Ellis, who is battling corruption charges, had unsuccessfully argued that prosecutors have not shared all evidence and urged that prosecutors should be removed from the case.

Ellis was indicted in the summer of 2013 by a DeKalb County grand jury on charges he illegally pressured contractors into giving him campaign contributions. He faces 14 felony charges that accuse him of shaking down county vendors for campaign donations and punishing those who did not give, reports the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Ellis has denied the charges.

Also in the spring, an attempt by Ellis’ attorneys to revisit whether he was “lured” to the special grand jury looking into corruption in county contracts by not being told of the criminal probe against him was thwarted.