UPDATE: AG declines offer to review Manuel Ellis case at same time as Pierce County prosecutors
Pierce County Prosecutor Mary Robnett offered to give the state Attorney General’s Office concurrent jurisdiction Monday to review the killing of Manuel Ellis by Tacoma police.
“In the interests of justice, the Attorney General’s review should begin now,” Robnett said in a statement. “There is simply no reason to wait.”
Robnett said her office invited Attorney General Bob Ferguson and the State Patrol to a briefing about the investigation with detectives and the medical examiner.
“I am granting the Attorney General concurrent jurisdiction in this case so that his review of the evidence and evaluation of the investigation can begin without delay,” Robnett’s statement said. “This weekend, Tacoma Mayor Victoria Woodards and I discussed the best path forward. We agreed it is better for the community and the Ellis family that the Attorney General’s review start now.”
Woodards also has been invited to the briefing and plans to attend, which is unprecedented for Pierce County, the Prosecutor’s Office said.
Ferguson responded to Robnett in a letter Monday afternoon.
“In order for the Ellis family, the residents of Tacoma and all Washingtonians to have confidence in an independent review, it is imperative that our review be independent from your office. Therefore, I am declining your request for concurrent jurisdiction in the Manuel Ellis case,” the letter said.
It goes on to say: “I committed to the Governor that I would provide that independent review. Independence is lost if our offices are working ‘concurrently.’”
As for the briefing with investigators, Ferguson wrote: “While we appreciate the invitation, a reasonable person would have concerns about the independence of our review if our teams were in the same room together reviewing evidence. To the public, that looks like coordination, not independence.”
Robnett said in response to Ferguson declining concurrent jurisdiction: “Reviewing the same evidence in no way compromises anyone’s independence. And if new evidence comes in, that evidence should be evaluated by the attorney general and my office. The attorney general should be reminded that concurrent jurisdiction continues even after I make a charging decision, and I will expect to continue to have any new evidence made available to me as it would be to him.”
State law gives both the county prosecutor and the governor the authority to give the Attorney General’s Office jurisdiction. Robnett decided to use that authority after the governor indicated he wasn’t going to do so until later, the Prosecutor’s Office said.
“There is significant public interest in this case in Tacoma and Pierce County, across the state and beyond,” Robnett’s statement said. “The Ellis family wants answers now. They said they want State review. To delay the Washington State Patrol review and delay Attorney General review is not in the interests of justice.”
The Pierce County Sheriff’s Department has been investigating, and the State Patrol will review that investigation.
Robnett said Friday she was disappointed in Gov. Jay Inslee’s plan to have the Attorney General’s Office review the investigation after her office, instead of giving the Attorney General concurrent jurisdiction.
“The structure of what has been suggested by the Governor looks like it sets up a Monday morning quarterbacking situation,” she said in a statement Friday. “That is not engaged leadership and it is not the way things should work in our criminal justice system.”
Inslee said at a press conference Monday that the State Patrol “will do an independent investigation of anything that needs investigating,” after its review. He said that may involve the State Patrol interviewing witnesses, analyzing physical evidence, getting new physical evidence and hiring new forensic experts.
When that is done, he said the Attorney General will review and make a prosecutorial decision.
“I’m very confident, at the end of the day, there is going to be a very thorough investigation done by an independent body — a combination of the Washington State Patrol and the Attorney General making an independent decision,” Inslee said.
He went on to say: “We can’t have people sort of mixing their work ... We can’t have Bob working with the prosecutor in Pierce County, nor can we have the State Patrol working with the Sheriff’s Department. This needs to be totally separate.”
The Tacoma Action Collective has called on the governor for an independent investigation, not a review. They started streaming live on Facebook from Olympia on Monday.
“We’re not leaving until (Governor Inslee) agrees to an independent investigation, and not a review,” the group wrote on social media.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner’s Office found that Ellis died March 3 of oxygen deprivation due to physical restraint, and that methamphetamine intoxication and heart disease were contributing factors.
Investigators said Ellis was trying to open the doors of unoccupied vehicles at 96th Street South and Ainsworth Avenue, and according to the Sheriff’s Department he attacked the officers and struggled with them before he was handcuffed.
Ellis’ family has said they don’t believe he would have acted that way.
He can be heard saying: “Can’t breathe,” on a police radio recording.
Police called for medical aid four minutes after the start of the encounter, and Ellis stopped breathing and lost consciousness within a minute of firefighters arriving. After 90 minutes of CPR by paramedics, Ellis was pronounced dead at the scene.
The four officers involved were put on administrative leave Wednesday, and Woodwards has called for them to be fired by City Manager Elizabeth Pauli and prosecuted.
The officers are Christopher Burbank, Matthew Collins, Masyih Ford and Timothy Rankine.
This story was originally published June 8, 2020 at 12:51 PM.
