Gino Fanelli

Salisbury Daily Times

Cecil County State's Attorney Ellis Rollins III was found guilty of indecent exposure and disorderly conduct on Friday after he was accused of engaging in several lewd acts in public in Ocean City this summer.

A defeated Rollins lowered his head into his palms as the verdict was announced Friday afternoon, Dec. 9, while his wife, Holly Rollins, shed tears in the middle row of the court benches.

Witnesses said in court that Rollins, on June 22, approached the sliding glass door of his room at the Clarion Hotel, facing himself toward a room at Atlantis Condominiums — where Karen Lynn, Laura Smith and Nancy Shray, all of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania were staying — and masturbated on several occasions.

The decision was made after nearly four hours of jury deliberation, and after the jury nearly become deadlocked. Rollins was found not guilty on two other counts of indecent exposure and disorderly conduct from the previous day, June 21.

Heeding a request from the victims to address Rollins, Oglesby suggested Friday that sentencing be deferred to an undetermined date, at which time written statements from the victims will be read to Rollins.

At the time of his arrest this summer, Rollins was a candidate for a circuit court judge position for Cecil County, a position formerly held by both his father and grandfather. Rollins subsequently dropped out of the race, though stating his resignation was by no means an admission of guilt. Rollins continues to serve as Cecil County's top prosecutor.

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According to testimony during the two-day trial in Worcester County Circuit Court, when the group contacted the hotel manager, Michelle Jones, Jones herself came up to view the situation. The group told Jones to wait a moment in the window.

After two minutes, Rollins appeared, witnesses said, first posing in various positions nude, then straddling something Jones described as possibly a small table, and masturbated.

Defense attorney Cullen Burke argued that the zoomed in photos of Rollins, which Lynn presented, were proof not only of the distance Rollins' room was from the group's, but also that the group was purposefully seeking out Rollins' room for viewing.

"We have to be honest here, if this was a group of four men, and a woman getting nude, dancing around and fondling her private parts, and they called down and complain, they'd tell them 'Find a real problem, buddy,'" Burke said, to the jury.

Burke also said the photos painted a false picture of the distance from the two locations, which police measured at about 172 feet.

"This room was a speck in their vision," Burke said. "They had the entire Atlantic Ocean, all the way to Spain to look at."

Worcester County State's Attorney Beau Oglesby said the idea that the group was not "present," as is stated in the legal definition for indecent exposure, during the incidents because of the distance was absurd, likening the comparison to hockey games he's attended.

"I've watched those goals happened, I was present," Oglesby said. "And I can assure you, I was more than 172 feet away, because I don't have the money for those seats."

Oglesby also argued the zoom on the digital camera was irrelevant, as Rollins' actions had clearly attracted their attention enough to make them want to take pictures.

Ellis's wife of six years Holly Rollins, meanwhile, said in court that she and Rollins did have sex while sitting on a couch facing toward the unobstructed sliding door. Rollins also said that, while she was in the room, Rollins had masturbated.

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