More jury issues at Tacoma police trial. Will a verdict be reached this year?

For the second day in a row, jury deliberations had to start over Tuesday in the historic trial of three Tacoma police officers charged in the death of Manuel Ellis.

A juror tested positive for COVID and was relieved on Tuesday. That juror, a man, will remain in the pool of alternate jurors, which stands at two.

On Monday, a juror was relieved and placed in the alternate pool because their spouse had a medical incident that required hospitalization. Despite the reshuffling, the composition of the jury remains seven men and five women.

The jury deliberated for a day and a half last week before it had to start the process over on Monday when an alternate joined the panel. Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff told lawyers in the case that if further COVID cases develop among jurors, it threatens to postpone deliberations into January.

The court has announced that the case will recess at the end of the day Friday for the duration of the Christmas holiday week.

Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died March 3, 2020, after repeatedly telling police he couldn’t breathe while they struggled in a south Tacoma intersection. The Pierce County medical examiner ruled Ellis’ death a homicide caused by oxygen deprivation. Lawyers for the officers have argued that the high level of methamphetamine and a heart condition caused Ellis’ death.

Officers Matthew Collins, 40, Christopher “Shane” Burbank, 38, and Timothy Rankine, 35, are on trial for first-degree manslaughter. The jury also has the option to convict them of the lesser included offense of second-degree manslaughter.

Collins and Burbank, the first officers to encounter Ellis when they say he was reaching for the door of a passing car, face second-degree murder charges as well. All three officers have pleaded not guilty, are free on bail and remain employed by the Tacoma Police Department on paid leave.

The charges against the officer represent just the sixth time in the past century that law enforcement officers in Washington state have been charged in an on-duty death. The last time so many officers went on trial for a death was 85 years ago.

The trial marks the first courtroom test of Washington’s police accountability law, Initiative 940, passed by voters in 2018 and the state Legislature in 2019. It removed barriers to charging officers for on-duty actions that severely injure or kill someone and called for reforms to increase the independence of investigations when police kill.

During 10 weeks of testimony and evidence, prosecutors from the Washington Attorney General’s Office presented eyewitnesses who said the officers assaulted Ellis without provocation.

Nationally recognized experts said the officers used excessive force, ignored training that makes clear someone in handcuffs and “hobbles” — a strap linking ankles and wrists behind their back as Ellis’ were — is at severe risk of death and that they caused his death by bearing down on him in that position.

Burbank and Rankine testified, claiming they’d only done the minimum to gain control of Ellis as he resisted them to the end. Burbank chose to not testify.

The defense called expert witnesses who said the officers acted appropriately under the circumstances and that Ellis was destined to die from drug toxicity and health problems.

This story was originally published December 19, 2023 at 10:58 AM.