Defense calls for dismissal of case against Tacoma officers after prosecution misstep
Attorneys representing three Tacoma police officers on trial for the in-custody death of Manuel Ellis asked that the case be dismissed Wednesday, claiming a prosecutor had deliberately violated the court’s orders to get a mistrial.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff declined to dismiss the case, telling defense attorneys and prosecutors that special prosecutor Patty Eakes went too far in her questioning of officer Timothy Rankine and had violated the court’s orders but that a dismissal wasn’t justified.
One of Rankine’s attorneys, Mark Conrad, then made a motion for a mistrial, but the judge shot that down, too.
The issue arose within the first few questions Eakes asked officer Timothy Rankine during a re-cross examination. With the jurors in the room, Eakes asked Rankine about the days that elapsed between Ellis’ death on March 3, 2020, and when the officer gave his statement to investigators who were looking into the man’s death.
“And you had three days to be able to consider and counsel before you went into this interview, correct?” Eakes asked.
“Can you — counsel? I don’t know what that means,” Rankine replied.
“You had other people with you in the interview, correct?” Eakes said.
Conrad objected and asked to be heard outside the jury’s presence. Once jurors left the courtroom, the defense attorney said he was “shocked” by the line of questioning, telling Chushcoff he’d heard at least two violations of motions in limine, which control what information is allowed into the trial.
Defense attorneys representing all of the officers said they had no doubt that Eakes’ had deliberately committed misconduct to get a mistrial, allowing the state to try its case again.
“Now they’re losing this trial and they want a mistrial,” said Casey Arbenz, an attorney for officer Matthew Collins. “We’re winning the case. They know it.”
Eakes told Chushcoff she didn’t think there was a basis to dismiss the case based solely on the use of the word “counsel.” She said prosecutors didn’t want a mistrial, and the idea that the defense was winning the case was their perception. Her intention wasn’t to ask whether Rankine had a lawyer, Eakes said, but to ask if he had time to consider the seriousness of Ellis’ death.
The issue over the potential misconduct overshadowed much of the morning’s testimony, which was largely about how long Rankine was at the scene of Ellis’ fatal encounter until medical personnel from The Tacoma Fire Department arrived.
Rankine, Collins and officer Christopher Burbank are charged with first-degree manslaughter for the March 3, 2020 death of Ellis in their custody. Collins and Burbank also face charges of second-degree murder. The defendants have pleaded not guilty, are free on bail and remain on paid leave from the Tacoma Police Department.
Ellis, 33, was unarmed when he encountered police while walking home in Tacoma’s South End. The first two officers to interact with him were Collins and Burbank. How that interaction began has been in dispute. Collins testified this week that they were suspicious of Ellis because he was seen trying the door of a car passing through the intersection of 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue, and, when they called him over, Ellis quickly became aggressive.
Collins said the man pounded his fist on their patrol car’s window, and, when he got out to confront him, Ellis threw him off his feet and into the street, where he landed on his back. Collins told jurors earlier in the week that he then had probable cause to arrest Ellis for two counts of felony assault on a police officer.
Four eyewitnesses called by prosecutors from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office contradicted the officer’s account, and no one else has testified to seeing Ellis throw Collins, but the defendant said he believed the eyewitnesses didn’t see the beginning of the interaction. Collins testified that Ellis continued to be assaultive and resist arrest, so he and Burbank had to continue to try to get him under control.
Cell-phone video taken by two of the eyewitnesses showed that Collins struck Ellis with fists or elbows and briefly put him in a headlock. Burbank shot him with a series of Taser shocks, and Ellis was pressed to the ground face down with weight on his back until Rankine arrived with his partner. Rankine later told investigators that he put all of his weight on Ellis’ spine when he arrived. Ellis was also bound in handcuffs tied to hobbles on his legs, and a spit hood was placed over his head.
Ellis’ death was ruled a homicide in 2020, and the Pierce County medical examiner determined he died of a form of oxygen deprivation caused by physical restraint. Evidence at trial has shown Ellis told police at least five times that he could not breathe.
Defense attorneys have contended that Ellis died not due to the actions of police, but because of his use of methamphetamine and his underlying health condition of an enlarged heart.
Rankine was called to the witness stand Tuesday, and he continued to face questioning Wednesday morning. Conrad showed him and jurors a dispatch report, and Rankine testified it showed that about eight and a half minutes passed between when he arrived as backup and when fire department personnel got to the scene.
In a re-cross examination, Rankine said another minute passed before medics actually got to Ellis’ side. Rankine said it was his recollection that Ellis was on his right side, in a placement often called the recovery position, more often than he was prone. The recovery position is meant to make it easier to breathe.
Rankine left the witness stand at the end of Wednesday morning. Jurors left the room, and then Burbank confirmed to the court that he did not intend to testify.
Defense attorneys said they didn’t have any more witnesses to call unless prosecutors put on a rebuttal case, and the defense would be ready to rest their case in the afternoon aside from some further discussion regarding medical records.
This story was originally published December 6, 2023 at 1:01 PM.
