Trial of Tacoma police accused of killing Manuel Ellis is behind schedule, state says

The trial of three Tacoma police officers charged in the death of Manuel Ellis is already three weeks behind schedule, lawyers announced Monday as the trial entered its fourth week.

Trial was originally scheduled to conclude Dec. 4, but the finish line for the historic proceeding is now in doubt. The prosecution, led by special prosecutor Patty Eakes and assistant attorney general Kent Liu, anticipated it would rest its case by the start of November. On Monday, Eakes said the prosecution now expects to conclude its case in the third week in November.

“I hope the pace will pick up and that we can get it done sooner than that,” Eakes told Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff. But Eakes said she’s not optimistic. Once the prosecution has presented its case, the defense teams for the three officers will present theirs.

Officers Matthew Collins, 40, Christopher “Shane” Burbank, 38, and Timothy Rankine, 34, are on trial for first-degree manslaughter. Collins and Burbank, the first officers to encounter Ellis, are charged with second-degree murder as well. All three have pleaded not guilty, are free on bail and remain employed by the Tacoma Police Department on paid leave. The trial marks the first time in 85 years that this many officers have been charged for an on-duty death in Washington state.

Ellis, 33, died March 3, 2020, after Collins and Burbank reported seeing him hassling a car as it passed through an intersection. The officers told detectives Ellis, who went by Manny, turned aggressive, and they responded by subduing him. Four eyewitnesses for the prosecution last week contradicted the officers by testifying that police were the aggressors and Ellis did nothing to provoke them.

Audio recordings played at trial show Ellis repeatedly told officers he couldn’t breathe while they continued to apply force. Rankine responded with his partner as backup and sat on Ellis’ back, even as Ellis again said he couldn’t breathe.

The Pierce County medical examiner ruled Ellis’ death a homicide caused by oxygen deprivation from physical restraint. The autopsy report also noted a potentially lethal dose of methamphetamine in his system. Defense lawyers for the officers have offered the jury an alternative explanation for Ellis’ death: overdose combined with a heart condition.

On Monday morning, Grant Fredericks, a forensic video expert for the prosecution, continued his testimony from last week. He showed the jury a composite that merged two videos from eyewitnesses recorded on cellphones with a video from a home surveillance system. Together, they provided a timeline of events.

Prosecutors trained Fredericks’ attention on the early moments of physical interaction between Collins, Burbank and Ellis. A central defense theme has been the officers’ claim that Ellis acted aggressively and resisted arrest. Fredericks testified alongside the slowed-down video that Ellis did not kick or fight when he was forcefully taken to the ground by Burbank, followed by at least four punches directed at Ellis by Collins. Frederick noted he couldn’t discern whether the blows Collins threw struck Ellis or missed him.

Throughout the video, Ellis can be heard saying he can’t breathe. At one point, that compelled Ellis’ mother to leave the courtroom in tears.

Late in one eyewitness video, officers can be heard telling Ellis repeatedly: “Put your hands behind your back!” Fredericks zoomed in on the video of that moment that showed Burbank’s hand on top of Ellis as Ellis was pressed to the ground by Collins, suggesting that perhaps Ellis was prevented from complying.

Fredericks conceded there were moments during the videos where everyone’s movements were impossible to discern. Burbank’s lawyer, Wayne Fricke, in cross-examination of Fredericks, focused on when the videos he analyzed began. Fricke’s questions implied that the videos Fredericks analyzed might not have captured the beginning of the physical interactions between the officers and Ellis.

During the afternoon, defense attorney Jared Ausserer focused on the middle of the video and what it didn’t show. Missing from the cellphone videos witnesses took was an explanation for how Ellis went from being on the ground to partially standing within a 10-second span. Fredericks said he could not explain how Ellis’ position changed. Ultimately, Fredericks said there were moments before, during and after the videos when it was impossible for him to determine exactly what transpired.

Former NBA star and Tacoma resident Isaiah Thomas attended part of Monday’s proceedings in support of Ellis’ family. He sat with them and their supporters briefly before the noon recess. In 2020, Seattle Seahawks linebacker Bobby Wagner wore Ellis’ name on the back of his helmet in Ellis’ memory. Celebrity outcry over Ellis’ death has been largely muted since then.

Testimony will resume in Pierce County Superior Court on Tuesday, with Fredericks still on the witness stand.

This story was originally published October 23, 2023 at 12:24 PM.