Thursday, January 17, 2013

Burrell Ellis Hires Defense Team

Burrell Ellis has hired a defense team to represent him with his corruption woes.

He has reached out to criminal defense attorneys with extensive experience in representing other corrupt politicians and mob figures.

But we have a question that April Hunt, the inquiring mind of the AJC, forgot to ask. Who is paying for all these attorneys? Is Ellis claiming as a result of doing county business, be it corrupt or not, he is entitled to representation furnished by the county?

Maybe a real reporter will step up and find the answer.

Read more here.

21 comments:

Anonymous said...

Who will foot the bills for Ellis' legal representation? Most likely the same people who foot the bill for Stogner during his Federal trial. WE, THE TAXPAYERS!. How can this be? Because "it's the rule, not the exception" in our fine State of DeKalb. Maybe this time it will turn out differently. When donkeys fly. No money for our raises but have you ever heard any commissioner say the money just isn't there to pay these types of legal fees? You can bet it's tucked away in some cushy account just waiting for the next indictment to drop.

Anonymous said...

I hope this investigation somehow makes its way over to Public Safety.

Anonymous said...

Well I guess we wont be getting a new Police Chief any time soon.

Anonymous said...

Guess Mr. CEO feels safe with all the folks over in Special Ops. 24/7 protection at the tax payers dollars......sure it is classified as "County Time"... but is that not in a sence of falsifying chronos???... Feel sorry for those folks....at least they don't have to go out and write tickets....hehhe

Just askin!

Anonymous said...

The article stated, "Now Ellis has his own legal dream team, to prepare for whatever James’ next step will be. No taxpayer money is being used for their fees." I take that is just for the public to hear. Later, behind closed doors, it will be determined that the county will have to pay for it. No one will every find out until after the trial and the bill is sent out.

Anonymous said...

Why the hell does Ellis have police protection all the time? I bet none of our state and national leaders have protection? What makes him so special? This all started with Jones. These guys are just fat head small time bureaucrats. What give here?It's an unnecessary perk of an expense and a drain on police manpower.and a joke. Typical Dekalb Co waste.

Anonymous said...

ocg.com, 01/15/13
"Ellis said he would pay for his legal representation—not the county, said county spokesman Burke Brennan."
At least CEO Ellis testified, Vernon Jones and Kevin Ross did not.

Anonymous said...

That protection detail started the night Derwin Brown was killed. Jones was not even CEO then but was so paranoid that he wanted protection RIGHT THEN. Then the rest is history. A lot of good folks got burned because they would not lie for Jones' account of how the detail got started.

Anonymous said...

Did anyone see the new article in the AJC about the current state of Dekalb County and how more cities are in the begining stages of incorporating.
People you may want to leave now. In a few years there will be no Dekalb County. Right now its the CEO, soon it will be the rest of the BOC, after that high ranking brass from the Police Department and Fire Department. And the easiest of all the business license department, they take the most bribes and are the most corrupt of all.

Anonymous said...

There are so many officers here with audio recordings of being "counseled" over ticket revenue (citation quota) that hasn't been aired in the media yet due to a county contradictive open records policy of recording supervisors. I believe some of it is about to get get released regardless.

Anonymous said...

Recording superiors without their permission is a violation of county policy, but so are ticket quotas. Which violation do you think will cause more public outrage?

Anonymous said...

The brass needs to be aware that this whole ticket quota thing is gonna bite hard when exposed. Just going along to keep your cushy position is not the best policy. A lot of officers are getting fed up with the demands to just generate revenue not police.

Anonymous said...

Play the recording..... I'm sure the citizens would be happy to hear officers being counseled about their lack of productivity. Eight hours to ten hours on the road with no tickets, no arrests, five dispatched calls and one report is work that begs for counseling. The public deserves something for the pay check they give officers every two weeks.

There are officers who earn their paycheck and officer who believe swiping in and out is enough. I'm not expecting officers to set the world on fire but, they should at least do the minimum.

Anonymous said...

I hope they deep fry Ellis and all his little buddys and I hope they dig all the way back to VJ where they will find the virtual gold mine of corruption that we have been pointing out for YEARS.
WAKE UP DEKALB. These folks you are electing are taking you to the cleaners. Now, if they dont pull the rabbit out of the hat and FIX the school system they have ruined, DeKalb will loose its accreditation, and what college wants students from non-accredited schools. We should DEMAND resignations from these inept fools, the CEO, the entire board of commissioners and the entire school board and start over from scratch. At this point is is cheaper to start over and rebuild than to try and renovate this termite and RAT infested house!

Anonymous said...

USE YOUR HEAD! It's not necessarily getting paid for what you're doing but what you CAN do. Preventing a robbery/murder by your mere presence in a parking lot is much more important than your "stats" of public harassment tickets. Grow a pair...

Anonymous said...

Looks like yet another idiot (anon 11:43) about to fall on the sword for the corrupt is worried a recording of them doing some RGC (Revenue Generating Counseling) is about to be aired. Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Anonymous said...

I hope to be the first officer with disciplinary action taken against me for ticket stats because my suit will allow my family and I early retirement. I'll throw in a personal punitive suit against every supervisor that signs off on it too so go ahead, "MAKE MY DAY."

Anonymous said...

Let me just say this to you "Gold Badge"', I can justify everything I do during my shift and I'm sick of the pressure coming down on forced quotas....Doing neighborhood patrols, business patrols and getting out speaking to the residencnts and business owners is gong to benefit me more than it will you. Oh and yeah there are personal voice recorders along with video recorders out there. It's a fact....there's already a story being put together. Just hope you're not in it cause those who are gonna have some splainin to do!!!!! I love it when a plan comes together...

Anonymous said...

To Anon 11:43...
We are salaried employees. That means we get paid to do the job regardless of what it entails...bust your tail one shift (or die in a shootout or 41I) then have an easy shift the next (help a citizen change a flat tire or help a little old lady cross the road). We dont get paid more because we have had an easy shift, week, or even month. The pay stays the same regardless.
Do you think the citizens of DeKalb would actually want us to get paid more, or make rank because we wrote a lot more traffic tickets or arrests? Doesn't that make cops into bounty hunters, with the citizens they try to protect being the ones being pursued? Any way you put it, a "quota", "performance Based Pay" or "productivity", it is still a very slippery slope and that it is why there is, and should never be a ticket quota. We are NOT revenue collectors for the county. And yes I am a former
DKPD supervisor. If you want to counsel an officer for lack of productivity, then counsel them on how to document everything they on thier shift. Think about it.
Can I get an AMEN?

Anonymous said...

@ 10:15 am if you're so confident in yourself and county policy, START THE WRITE-UPS! That's what I though so shut up and go back to talking about officers behind their backs and closed doors punk.

Anonymous said...

I didnt get one single AMEN. How pittiful DeKalb has become.