Local Man Found “Not Guilty” of Rape, Taken to Jail for Contempt of Court
September 23rd, 2010 by Joe BurgessTommie Ellis, of Monticello, was found not guilty of rape by a Drew County Circuit Court jury, Wednesday.
The trail began a little after 9 am, with the first witness being called at 11 o’clock.
The case was turned over to the jury around 2:30, and deliberated for around 2 hours before returning to the courtroom with “not guilty” verdict.
After the verdict was read, Judge Gibson told the courtroom about the contempt of court charge against Ellis, who had been instructed to be in the judge’s chambers with his attorney at 8:30, for any final motions to be presented. Ellis arrived at 9:05, telling the judge, that he had to wait on the stores to open, so he could buy a tie.
Judge Gibson pointed out that Walmart was open all night, and that 70 people were waiting in the courtroom, for him to arrive, and then sentenced Ellis to serve 15 days in the county jail on the contempt charge.
The jury did not know about the contempt charge, or the reason for the late start, until after their verdict was reached.
The defense was pleased with the jury’s decision, and made no comment about the contempt issue.
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Monticello Man Faces Rape & Drug Charges
Posted May 26, 2010
According to documents on file with the circuit clerk’s office, Tommie Ellis, age 47, of Monticello, is facing charges of rape and “introduction of a controlled substance” (methamphetamine) for events that allegedly occurred on May 19.
Ellis is accused of providing methamphetamine to 21 year old family friend, and then having forcible intercourse with her.
Ellis was released on a $5,000 bond.
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REALLLY!!!!!!! $5000 bond for a rapist so he can go out and rape someone else WTF!!!! why did he even get a bail?????
Mhsgrad2k… Whatever happened to innocent until proven guilty?
Don’t you think he got bail because they might be short of room? That is why the last sex offender was on home arrest, and he left. Guess he didn’t want to wait on his room to be ready. But then again they most likely had some dangerous “pot smoker” who needed the room.
What is wrong with the court that lets these people out with a slap on the wrist???
Randy: What ever “did happen” to innocent until proven guilty?….in Drew County , your treated like you are guilty till proven innocent ….
As a abusee, I know exactly what the girl is going thru!!!!!!!
I PRAY THAT HE GETS WHAT HE DESERVES !!!!!!!!!
I agree with CONCERNED and Teri FIND A BED!!!!!! LET SOMEONE GO THAT HASN’T DONE SUCH A SEVERE ACT LIKE THIS!!!!!!!!!!!! HE IS JUST GONNA KEEP DOING THIS UNTIL SOMETHING MORE OR EVEN WORSE HAPPENS!!!!!!
‘Law Abiding Citizen’….go home and watch it.
law abiding citizen????? What is this
Good Luck to Tommie. I am sure the truth will come out. I wonder how “ABUSED” feels about people who are raped of their good name with lies and false allegations !!
@randy and BS forcible rape intercourse and supplying drugs kinda throw the “until proven guilty” aspect of it but hey let him sleep @ you house with your daughter. i didnt think so
If your doing meth how do you fall asleep? I thought it kept you up!!
THEY ARE NOT ALLEGATIONS!!!!!!!!! THE TRUTH IS HE IS GUILTY!!
DRUGS OR NO DRUGS HE SHOULD NOT HAVE FORCED HIS SELF ON HER!!!!!!!!!!!! BS APPARENTLY YOU’VE NEVER DELT WITH A MAN LIKE HIM.
ALSO BS, WHAT IF THIS WAS ONE OF CHILDREN OR GRANDCHILD
THE CRAZY THING IS IT WAS HIS DAUGHTERS’ FRIEND!!!!!!!!!!!!!
WHAT ABOUT THE LAW ABIDING CITIZEN DEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
“ABUSED”
You obviously have alot of anger and rage about what happen to you. I am sorry for anyone who has ever been abused. However, just because the person whom abused you was found guilty does not mean everyone who is accused is also guilty. I know for a fact that Mr. Ellis’ job drug tests and so I am very doubtful that the Meth accusation is true and more likely the accuser is a user and people who use drugs, especially Meth are very irrational. I think it is best to let the facts be heard in court before we go convicting anyone with public opinion.
” BS”
YES, YOUR RIGHT LETS HEAR THE FACTS IN COURT.
Congratulations Mr Ellis on being found innocent of the charges brought agaainst you and hope everyone who had negatives comments about you ask God for forgiveness
The facts were heard in court today and the fact is Mr. Ellis was found NOT GUILTY of the rape charges that were made against him. I know Mr. Ellis and I knew he was not guilty of the charges when I heard them. Anyone who knew him would have known that ! I certainly hope that the moderator of this website posts a new article regarding the outcome of this case as quickly as he posted the charges !!
God Bless the innocent !!
Today he was found NOT guilty by a jury of his peers! Wonder if this will make the news. I’m sure if he was convicted it would be plastered all over along with nut job comments.
I wish I could have heard this case.While everyone has something bad to say about Mr. Ellis they should know both parties. When I heard I was thinking maybe guilty maybe not. Nobody deserves to have anything bad happen to them by no means. Nobody should judge until all facts are known. Just because you are accused doesn’t mean that your guilty. I have seen some good people in this town get down graded for accusations, which some was true and some were not. I can say anything about anybody but I have to prove that what I say is true. You wouldn’t want people bad mouthing you before you had a chance to defend yourself no matter how bad the accusation should be.
If anyone who hasn’t been through what that woman had been through (just wish I could have heard the whole story) I couldn’t be on a jury for that reason. I was raped in the late 70’s by my brother-in-law. I didn’t take it to court becasue then and even as now it it the womans fault.
I was in the jury panel but not picked…the first thing I noticed about the girl in question was her choice of a see-through blouse worn to court…I wondered why a juror would wear something like that to court, before finding out that she was the accuser. Young people need to be careful about ruining the lives of grown men with false accusations. Glad he was set free, even if he did have to serve a few days because he didn’t wear a tie.
Are we turning into Iran?! If a woman id dressed attractively, then it is her falt if she is raped.
Molly,
It is sad news to hear about women who have in fact been sexually assualted. What is just as sad is how other women who claim rape and have charges brought against innocent people lessen the impact of what rape is for those women, children and in some cases I suppose men too who have really been raped.
To Sue…Must correct something about your comments. Mr. Ellis was NOT given jail time for being tieless. He was given jail time for holding 70 people hostage while he went “tie shopping”….He disobeyed the court instructions to be there at 8:30. Everyone else was there, waiting for him. The shopping story sounds like bull…the trial date was no secret from him. He’s had plenty of time to get a tie. It was a silly excuse for keeping a court waiting, and the judge let him know you don’t just stroll into a trial and insult the court’s intelligence by spouting drivel.
Glad to know that he’s not guily. i have a family member going thur this now. it’s sad, for both parties.
the “girl” you referred to did not have a see through blouse on. i stood no more than two feet away and never noticed anything see through. And the jury also seemed to have said not guilty due to a lack of certain evidence. Both parties stories were kinda iffy.
As for his story about the tie he never worn one until after the jury went to get a verdict.
“Not Guilty” does not necessarily mean innocent. It means the charges were not proven. In this case, I sincerely hope it meant innocent…the woman is being villified for what she wore, for being a liar and a false accuser. For that reason, I hope Mr. Ellis was truly INNOCENT. If he actually did this, and was found not guilty because of a lack physical evidence, the young woman has been victimized three times: once by him, once by the verdict, and again by public scorn. No wonder rape is such an underreported crime…most women don’t want to take the chance of being branded like this.
Well well well, it seems okay to hack away at Mr. Ellis’ reputation who was FOUND INNOCENT of the charges but we dare not say anything about the accuser !! DO SOME RESEARCH.. She is a liar !! She stated in her complaint to the police she was a friend of the family and then someone on this forum said she was a friend of Mr. Ellis’ daughter and THAT IS A BALL FACED LIE !! She is not and has never been a friend of the Ellis’. LIES LIES LIES…… Here’s a note for you to censor: You are bias against Mr. Ellis when you allow everyone here to post whatever they want about him and you censor anything regarding the alleged victim.
Response: Several comments have been edited and deleted in reference to both the alleged victim and Mr. Ellis. Both have had slanderous comments made about them, which were not fit for public posting, and therefore were deleted, in full or in part.
I don’t have a public opinion in the case. I reported the arrest and the charges, and I also reported the verdict when he was found “not guilty” by the jury.
This is A note to all of you. Had the bloody clothes or bedsheets been cased as evidence then Ellis would have been found GUILTY! Also I’m saddened to say he will return to the public before to much longer, and to those young women and girls out there: Be careful of this man and people such as him.
Mr. Ellis was honest when he stated he had a relationship with this women. He could have simply stated her never had a relationship with her. There was no DNA evidence found, at least not from Mr. Ellis. The only DNA found on her was from someone else which is why DNA was omitted from the case. Why would DNA be omitted in a RAPE case. If the accuser was a friend of the family as stated, then why did Mr. Ellis have to be ‘introduced’ to her by some third party, as stated in court. It was also revealed that she had a history of drug use, so the claim that she was forced to do drugs is a bit far fetched. This, in my opinion, was a waste of taxpayer money. Do a little research yourself and Google ‘falsely accused of rape’. It happens all the time.
As far as postings on this site, Mr Joe was simply reporting what was on record. Mr. Joe does a good job of reporting the news in Drew county and I commend him for it.