Trial of 3 Tacoma police officers accused of killing Manuel Ellis in 2020 gets underway
The trial of three Tacoma police officers charged in the death of Manuel “Manny” Ellis in 2020 began with minutiae Monday in a sparsely filled courtroom.
More than three-and-a-half years ago, Ellis, 33, was on his way home from a convenience store in his South End neighborhood when, at about 11:20 p.m., he encountered officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins at the corner of 96th Street South and Ainsworth Avenue. Within an hour Ellis was dead, having been beaten, shocked with a Taser and restrained on the ground with his legs tied to the handcuffs behind his back. A spit hood was put on Ellis, and several officers sat on his back at different times while the man said he could not breathe.
The Pierce County medical examiner conducted Ellis’ autopsy March 4, 2020, and found the cause was hypoxia due to physical restraint, with methamphetamine intoxication and heart disease contributing. Hypoxia is a deficiency in the amount of oxygen reaching body tissues. The findings were released in June, and his death was ruled a homicide.
Burbank and Collins were charged the next year with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter by the office of state Attorney General Bob Ferguson. Timothy Rankine, who responded to the scene after a call for backup and kneeled on Ellis, is charged with first-degree manslaughter. The officers have pleaded not guilty.
Attorneys for the officers have said in court filings that Ellis attacked Collins’ and Burbank’s patrol vehicle after they saw him try to open the door of a vehicle at the intersection and asked if he was OK. Burbank hit Ellis with his door to try to stop the attack, attorneys wrote, and, when Collins got out to restrain the man, Ellis tossed the officer in front of the patrol car. Burbank got out, and the officers reported that Ellis fought them.
Since then, delays have pushed back the officers’ trial, frustrating relatives of Ellis and advocates who have said the wait for justice has been too long. George Floyd died similarly in police custody in Minneapolis while pleading that he could not breathe, and the officer accused of murdering him was prosecuted and found guilty within a year. Meanwhile, Burbank, Collins and Rankine have kept their jobs as officers on administrative leave, collectively taking in more than $1 million in salary.
For months county officials have planned for protests and possible threats outside the County-City Building where the trial is taking place, but no such action occurred Monday when jury selection was slated to begin.
Inside the courtroom, Collins, Burbank and Rankine sat quietly behind their attorneys in the first row of the gallery, all wearing blue. Several court goers sat several rows back, and a few others populated the prosecution’s side of the room.
After about an hour of pretrial motions concerning the expected testimony of state toxicologists and the defense’s list of witnesses, along with details of the setup of the courtroom and other issues, the court went into recess until Tuesday afternoon. The rest of the day was reserved for the 150 prospective jurors to fill out questionnaires that ask about potential conflicts that could preclude them from participating, their own backgrounds and knowledge of the case. Twelve jurors will be selected with four alternates.
Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff will preside over the trial. The court’s presiding judge, Timothy Ashcraft, said in a Sept. 6 meeting with The News Tribune’s editorial board that Chushcoff is the most senior judge in Superior Court and one of the most senior in the state, having sat on the bench since 1997.
The attorneys representing the officers are Wayne Fricke and Brett Purtzer for Burbank, Casey Arbenz and Jared Ausserer for Collins and Anne Bremner, Ted Buck and Mark Conrad for Rankine.
The officers are the fourth, fifth and sixth in Washington state to be charged in an on-duty death in the last half-century, the Seattle Times reported Monday. It’s the second time a police officer has been charged with murder since voters in 2018 approved Initiative 940, which changed state law on police use of deadly force and required more training for officers. Auburn Officer Jeffrey Nelson was charged in 2020 with second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the May 2019 shooting death of Jesse Sarey. His case is pending.
City leaders have said they won’t comment on the trial for its duration. A statement issued by the City of Tacoma before it began said Mayor Victoria Woodards, City Council members and other leaders have no involvement in the case.
The broader issue, the city said, was creating a just and transparent model of public safety. It noted updated city policies requiring police officers to activate body-worn cameras when engaging with the public — the devices weren’t in use when Ellis died — the police department’s updated use-of-force policy and other efforts to improve policing and the relationship between officers and the community.
Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly reported how many alternates the jury panel will have.
This story was originally published September 18, 2023 at 2:14 PM.
