Jurors in the trial of DeKalb County CEO Burrell Ellis nodded their heads and smiled in agreement Thursday with an upset businesswoman who recounted “demeaning” pressure from Ellis to give a campaign contribution.
Trina Shealey, the co-owner of National Property Institute, told jurors she believed Ellis was threatening to pull her company’s $1 million contract with the county unless she donated.
A defense attorney tried to get Shealey to concede that Ellis merely wanted the courtesy of a return phone call, but she insisted he was after one thing: campaign cash. She said Ellis wasn’t calling about the company’s contract to rehab foreclosed homes in Dekalb.
“It would be like the CEO of General Motors calling someone who works in one of the factories and telling them what to do,” she said. “There are so many layers between us and the CEO. There’s no reason for us to be talking to the CEO.”
Ellis has pleaded not guilty to accusations that he illegally mixed political activities with county business by intimidating companies that didn’t financially support his re-election in 2012. Ellis’ fight against extortion and bribery charges puts him at the center of metro Atlanta’s biggest corruption trial since former Atlanta Mayor Bill Campbell was convicted in 2006.
via Jurors sympathize with alleged victim of DeKalb CEO Ellis | www.myajc.com.
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