DA’s, ex-top aide’s testimony begs question: Who’s telling the… | www.myajc.com

ide by side, they worked together to prosecute two of the most high-profile cases in DeKalb County history.

Robert James, the ambitious district attorney who seems to pursue one sensational case after another, and Don Geary, the former Marine fighter pilot and go-to guy for the toughest cases, made a formidable duo.

Just don’t expect it to ever happen again.

During a recent court hearing, the two men provided such diametrically divergent testimony about the corruption investigation involving suspended CEO Burrell Ellis, it bewildered lawyers and prosecutors across the region.

It’s not unusual — in fact, it’s almost commonplace — for witnesses to give conflicting testimony at a trial or a hearing. But this hearing proved remarkable because it required two of the metro area’s top prosecutors to testify from the witness stand. And it left many pondering the same question: Who was telling the truth?

“It’s an unprecedented situation,” Gwinnett County District Attorney Danny Porter said.

“I’ve never seen anything like it in my 30 years of practicing law,” Atlanta criminal defense attorney Bill Morrison said. “I just can’t understand how they’d gotten this sideways with each other.”

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