Politics & Government

Grand Jury Re-Indicts Ellis, Who Claims Innocence on YouTube

Suspended CEO takes to video to claim his innocence and question prosecutor's actions.

On the same day that suspended DeKalb CEO Burrell Ellis appeared on YouTube claiming he's innocent and to continue his counterattack against District Attorney Robert James, a DeKalb County grand jury handed down a new indictment against Ellis.

The new charge, which came hours after Ellis posted his YouTube video, alleges Ellis stopped a county contract after a vendor had criticized him professionally.

Ellis, previously indicted on public corruption charges, complains in the video that James' office bugged his personal phone calls and "raided my home while my 83-year-old mother was there alone." The video, posted Wednesday, follows accusations last week by Ellis' lawyers that James had engaged in illegal activity in the investigation. His legal team, in a motion, referred to the probe as a "witch hunt."

DeKalb prosecutors dismissed such claims this week and accused Ellis’ legal team of issuing “harassing and retaliatory” subpoenas against James to damage him politically, the AJC reported.

Some of Ellis' comments from the video:

"One year ago, the DeKalb District Attorney raided my home while my 83-year-old mother was there alone. The trauma of that event lingers to this day.

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The DA went through my closets, my wife’s personal items, my kids’ toy bins and even my trash and found nothing illegal or improper because I have done absolutely nothing wrong.

In an attempt to find something, District Attorney Robert James bugged my most personal phone calls, including those with my wife, my children, my mother, my lawyer and even my pastor.

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After being told by a member of his staff that he had violated the law and had committed criminal acts, the district attorney, in his zeal to destroy me, continued nonetheless."

Watch the full video here.

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