DeKalb County Commissioner Burrell Ellis along with his mother Roberta Ellis (left) and wife Philippa at the Decatur Holiday Inn on Thursday Jan. 24, 2008, where he talked about his candidacy for the DeKalb CEO. Ellis was convicted in July 2015 of attempted extortion and perjury, but the Georgia Supreme Court threw out the conviction in November 2016, ruling that Ellis was denied a fair trial.