David Ellis

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. - David Ellis, chief counsel to the state House impeachment committee, will prosecute Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his state Senate trial set to begin Jan. 26.

Ellis, 41, has served as counsel to House Speaker Michael Madigan since November 2006 and was the primary author of the impeachment committee’s 60-page report outlining the charges against Blagojevich.

”I tried to represent the position of the committee as best I could,” Ellis said at a Statehouse news conference with reporters today. ”I’m now going to represent the feelings of the 114 members (of the state House) who voted to impeach him.”

Ellis said it’s not up to him to ”prove” anything to the 59 state Senators who will decide if the governor should be convicted and removed from office.

”It will be up to each individual senator…(to decide) if I have made my case,” Ellis said.

He said it is too soon to tell if he will have additional counsel, how many witnesses he may call and how long the trial might last.

Ellis is a graduate of Northwestern University Law School and practiced law in Chicago from 1993 until he joined the Speaker’s office in 2006.

In addition to practicing law, Ellis has written five novels, including ”Line of Vision” for which he won the Edgar Allen Poe Award for Best First Novel by an American Author.