This case arises out of the criminal convictions of former DeKalb County Chief Executive Officer W. Burrell Ellis, Jr., for perjury and attempt to commit theft by extortion.1 The charge for attempted extortion stemmed from Ellis’ alleged efforts to procure a $2,500 political campaign contribution from a DeKalb County vendor by threatening to cut the vendor’s contract with the County if the vendor did not contribute to Ellis’ campaign, and the perjury charges stemmed from Ellis allegedly lying to a Special Purpose Grand Jury about his role in cutting the contract of the DeKalb County vendor. On appeal, Ellis contends, among other things, that his rights to substantive due process and equal protection of the laws were violated based on the inapplicability of the former version of OCGA § 45-11-4 to his case, and that the trial court erred with respect to various evidentiary matters at his trial. For the reasons that follow, we find that, although the trial court properly concluded that the inapplicability of former OCGA § 45-11-4 to Ellis’ case did not result in any violation of his constitutional rights, we must nevertheless reverse Ellis’ convictions based on certain evidentiary errors that occurred at his trial. Accordingly, we affirm in part and reverse in part to allow for a retrial on the charges of criminal attempt to commit theft by extortion and perjury.
1. Viewed in the light most favorable to the jury’s verdict, the evidence presented at trial revealed that, in early June of 2012, in an effort to raise money to eliminate his campaign debt, Ellis made a call to Brandon Cummings, the co-owner of Power and Energy Services, Inc. Power and Energy, with the goal of obtaining a $2,500 campaign contribution from the company. Power and Energy was a vendor that had a $250,000 split award contract2 to provide generator repairs for the DeKalb County Department of Watershed Management. Cummings indicated that he would discuss the possible contribution with his wife, who was the other co-owner of Power and Energy. Ellis called Cummings several times in early June to follow up about the campaign contribution, but these calls were not returned. Cummings and his wife decided not to make any contribution to Ellis’ campaign, and Cummings asked his secretary to convey that message to Ellis if he called again. When Ellis called again, Cummings’ secretary informed him that Power and Energy would not be contributing to his campaign. According to Ellis, the secretary told him that Power and Energy was not interested in his services.
