Prosecutors build their case in trial of Tacoma officers charged in Manuel Ellis' death
What You Need To Know
🚔 Manuel "Manny" Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, died March 3, 2020, after a violent struggle and restraint by Tacoma police officers. Officers Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank and Timothy Rankine face felony charges in his death. All three pleaded not guilty and are on paid leave.
🏛 Since opening statements Oct. 3, the prosecution has called on Ellis’ mother and sister, four eyewitnesses, and multiple experts specializing in forensic video, crime scene investigation and autopsies to testify.
⏳ The trial has gone slower than anticipated. On Monday the prosecution informed the court that their case is approximately three weeks behind schedule.
🎧 The Walk Home, a national award-winning podcast from KNKX and The Seattle Times, goes deeper into the life and death of Manny Ellis and what led to this trial.
🗒 KNKX reporters Mayowa Aina and Jared Brown will be covering the trial along with Patrick Malone of The Seattle Times. Questions or comments about the trial? Contact us at outreach@knkx.org
Continue following KNKX's coverage of the trial
We're closing this blog but still covering the trial.
Find the latest updates on the trial of Tacoma officers charged with killing Manuel Ellis at knkx.org/tpdtrial.
Thank you for following KNKX! Support independent, local news coverage like this by donating or exploring other ways to give.
Jurors, Ellis' sister hear Officer Rankine's only taped interview for first time
On Thursday, jurors heard Tacoma Officer Timothy Rankine's recorded description of his encounter with Manuel Ellis in March 2020 for the first time.
It came from the only taped interview he gave to an investigator immediately following the incident.
This was also the first time Ellis' sister Monét Carter-Mixon heard Rankine's interview.
Rankine described how he arrived to the scene as backup. And while trying to restrain Ellis, Rankine said he heard Ellis say he could not breathe.
"I remember telling the individual, I was like, if you're talking to me, you can breathe just fine," Rankine said in the recording.
Carter-Mixon left the courtroom in tears. Attorneys for the officers said they could hear her crying and yelling even when they returned to the courtroom.
"Which suggests to me that the jurors can hear it and we don't want a mistrial here, I assume," Casey Arbenz, an attorney for the defense, told the court.
"And so we can't have it. And so I want to make that record."
State prosecutors said they did not hear anything and Judge Brian Chushcoff also said he didn't hear anything inside the courtroom.
"If she gets emotional, which is, you know, one can't always control that. She, she has to at least be aware of the fact that she needs to distance herself from the jurors," Chushcoff said.
Carter-Mixon quietly listened from the hallway as the rest of Rankine's statement played for the jury.
The trial will resume Monday with Lt. Byron Brockway of the Pierce County Sheriff's Department continuing his testimony.
Jurors hear one officer's interview from days after Ellis' death
Jurors heard a recording Thursday afternoon of an interview one officer gave investigators days after Manuel Ellis’ death.
Officer Timothy Rankine responded with his partner as backup the night of March 3, 2020, after hearing mic clicks and a location shout out from the first two officers who encountered Ellis at 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue, Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins. Prosecutors have accused Rankine of sitting on Ellis’ back even after the man told him he could not breathe.
Three days after Ellis’ death, Rankine told investigators at the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department’s Parkland-Spanaway precinct that when he arrived on the scene, Ellis was on his stomach with Burbank straddling his upper torso and Collins trying to secure both legs. As the interview went on, Rankine narrated where he put his knees on Ellis’ back in response to the man’s movements under him.
Burbank was “violently” bucked off Ellis, Rankine told investigators, and that’s when he said he put all of his weight in the middle of the man’s body, with Rankine’s right knee on Ellis spine just below his neck, and his left knee on his lower back, with his ankles kicked out so he was seated. The officer told investigators Ellis was making “strange animal grunting noises.”
Rankine said Ellis “wiggled like a worm” underneath him, moving him and the other three officers further into the street. The officer said he heard Ellis speak for the first time when his weight was evenly distributed on the man’s torso. Rankine related to investigators that Ellis said, “I can’t breathe”
“I remember telling the individual, ‘If you’re talking to me you can breathe just fine,'" Rankine said on the recording.
Rankine said what stuck out to him was that Ellis' voice wasn’t distressed, it was calm. He said he told Ellis he would release some pressure on him if he relaxed, and after Ellis became quiet, Rankine started to reposition his right knee. Ellis “violently thrashed” again, the officer said, and he returned a knee to the middle of the man’s spine.
The recording was played after Sheriff’s Department Lt. Byron Brockway was called to the witness stand by prosecutors from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office. Brockway was the lead investigator when the Sheriff’s Department was tasked with looking into Ellis’ death, and he was present for Rankine's interview.
The Sheriff’s Department’s initial investigation was completed in about three months. When it became public that a Sheriff’s Department detective sergeant, Gary Sanders, held Ellis’ foot to help restrain him, state officials criticized the department for not previously disclosing the conflict of interest, and the investigation was subsequently turned over to the Washington State Patrol.
Later on in the recording of Rankine’s interview, the officer was asked if any kind of force was effective on Ellis. Rankine replied that nothing seemed to work, and he thought all the officers were just trying to pin him down, hoping he would tire out. He said the man seemed to calm down by the time Tacoma Fire Department personnel arrived.
Trial will continue Monday with prosecutors continuing their direct examination of Brockway.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The News Tribune
Prosecutors’ expert cardiologist cross-examined Thursday morning
Lawyers for the Tacoma police officers on trial for the death of Manuel Ellis questioned prosecutors’ expert cardiologist Thursday morning about his opinion on Ellis’ cause of death and opinions he previously offered in a California in-custody death case.
Under cross-examination, Dr. Daniel Wohlgelernter, a cardiologist from Stana Monica, California, answered questions about the similarities and differences between Ellis’ death in police custody and that of Humberto Martinez, who, according to CBS News, died in 2016 in Pittsburg, California, after encountering police.
Wohlgelernter testified Wednesday that his opinion is police officers' restraint of Ellis didn't give his body room to breathe, causing him to asphyxiate, go into cardiac arrest and die.
His testimony Thursday showed that years ago he was also retained by an attorney representing Martinez’s family to offer an opinion on cause of death, and he similarly concluded that it was police’s restraint that caused compressive asphyxia, which led to Martinez's organs not getting enough oxygen, causing pulseless electrical activity.
The cardiologist said pulseless electrical activity, meaning the activity of the heart is too weak to sustain a pulse, is “classic” for hypoxia-induced cardiac arrest, rather than cardiac arrest caused by methamphetamine or an underlying heart condition.
Mark Conrad, an attorney for officer Timothy Rankine, pointed out Wednesday that wording in certain parts of Wohlgelernter’s report on Martinez's cause of death was the same wording he used in his report on Ellis’ cause of death. Other defense attorneys continued on the topic Thursday, drawing jurors’ attention to the fact that Martinez was more severely beaten and restrained by police than Ellis, but Wohlgelernter came to the same conclusion on cause of death.
Wohlgelernter testified that his opinion on the men's causes of death were the same, but he believed their injuries were different.
On prosecutors’ redirect examination, the cardiologist explained that the condition of pulseless electrical activity is not unique to an individual, and his wording in the two reports was the same because he’s describing the same process.
Thursday’s cross-examination also focused Wohlgelernter’s answers regarding Ellis’ heart rate and the fact that while he was hooked up to a heart monitor, he did at one point exhibit ventricular tachycardia, an abnormal, fast heart rhythm which would be more consistent with meth overdose.
Wohlgelernter said Ellis exhibited this condition after paramedics administered epinephrine, a medication that he said is a “very powerful” stimulant that is appropriate to use when trying to save someone’s life, but which can irritate the heart and trigger ventricular tachycardia.
The cardiologist's testimony concluded before court broke for lunch, and he was excused. Witness testimony will continue Thursday afternoon.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The News Tribune
Medical expert dismisses claims of 'excited delirium'
Dr. Daniel Wohlgelernter, a heart expert called by the prosecution dismissed claims that Manny Ellis died of “so-called excited delirium.”
Wohlgelernter has been a cardiologist at Providence Saint John's Health Center in California since 1983.
He said "excited delirium" — a condition that law enforcement says can cause agitation, extreme strength and sudden death — isn’t recognized by any major medical association.
“To simply attribute cause of death to excited delirium, to a behavior pattern that doesn’t even have any defined criteria, that’s just not accepted, that’s pseudo-science, that’s not a medical analysis that has any justification or basis,” Wohlgelernter said in court Wednesday.
The cardiologist testified that Ellis died because Tacoma police officers restraining him cut off his oxygen supply for too long, not because of methamphetamine or mild heart issues
He said Ellis’ enlarged heart, drug use and struggle with officers increased his need for oxygen. But instead police restraints stopped him from getting air. He compared the restraints and officers’ weight on his back to smothering a camp fire.
“Sometimes you can bring the fire back, by you know, bringing some air, oxygen into. But sometimes it’s too far gone. That fire is out,” Wohlgelernter said.
Wohlgelernter said he ruled out methamphetamine and heart issues killing Ellis because those doesn’t match up with the slow heart rate paramedics recorded before he flat-lined. He said meth is deadly when it speeds up the heart rate.
Defense attorneys for officers Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank and Timothy Rankine will continue cross-examining Wohlgelernter Thursday morning.
A livestream of the proceedings is available on the Pierce County website.
Cardiologist testifies about rhythm and dilation of Ellis' heart, says meth didn't cause cardiac arrest
The specific rhythm of Manuel Ellis’ heart was a telltale sign that the cardiac arrest he experienced after he was restrained by police was not the result of methamphetamine overdose or heart disease, a cardiologist testified Wednesday afternoon.
Dr. Daniel Wohlgelernter, a cardiologist from Santa Monica, California, was called to the witness stand by prosecutors from the Washington State Attorney General’s Office to offer his opinion on Ellis’ cause of death in the trial of the three Tacoma police officers charged with killing him, officers Christopher Burbank, Matthew Collins and Timothy Rankine.
When paramedics from the Tacoma Fire Department arrived at Ellis’ side the night of March 3, 2020, and hooked him up to a heart monitor showing the organ’s electrical activity, Wohlgelernter said the first heart rhythms it recorded were not what he’d expect to see in someone about to go into cardiac arrest due to meth or heart disease.
Wohlgelernter said if meth was the primary cause of death, Ellis’ heart would have had a type of abnormal rhythm called ventricular tachycardia or ventricular fibrillation, which are associated with the heart beating too fast.
“Methamphetamine is not the culprit,” Wohlgelertner testified.
In the morning, the cardiologist said it was his opinion that Ellis’ cardiac arrest and death was due to restraint asphyxia. He said the way police restrained him didn’t give him room to breathe.
The cardiologist also answered questions about Ellis’ dilated heart, telling jurors that the man’s heart disease was a mild case of dilated cardiomyopathy. He said a normal male heart weighs 400 to 500 grams, and Ellis’ heart was 480 grams. In a severe case of a dilated heart, Wohlgelernter said, the heart could weigh 700 to 800 grams.
Under cross examination, lawyers for the officers focused Wohlgelernter’s attention on the findings of Ellis’ original autopsy report, the actions of the defendant officers, and his compensation from the Attorney General’s Office for testifying as an expert witness.
Wohlgelernter agreed with Brett Purtzer, an attorney for Burbank, that Ellis’ autopsy report listed methamphetamine as a contributing factor in his death, but he said it was his own opinion that the meth Ellis ingested made him more vulnerable to the effects of restraint asphyxia because he would have needed more oxygen.
The cardiologist conceded that he didn’t know how many officers were involved in apprehending Ellis or how long Burbank, Collins or Rankine were on his back. Purtzer asked what specifically Burbank did to cause Ellis to suffer from hypoxia aside from the physical struggle. Wohlgelernter said Burbank restrained him. Purtzer shot back that the officer restrained Ellis because he was resisting arrest.
As Purtzer continued to question the expert, the attorney said Ellis never stopped fighting officers as they tried to restrain him. Wohlgelernter said the man was trying to get room to breathe.
“That’s struggling to live, that’s not fighting,” Wohlgelernter said.
Answering questions from Jared Ausserer, an attorney for Collins, Wohlgelernter said he was paid $550 per hour to consult in this case, $9,600 for a full day of testimony, and the maximum compensation he expected to receive from the Attorney General’s Office was $50,000.
Late in the afternoon, Mark Conrad, one of Rankine’s attorneys, pressed Wohlgelernter on his history testifying as an expert witness. The cardiologist said he’s been doing that kind of work since 1983, and the majority of cases have been related to medical malpractice, but he’s also testified in civil in-custody death cases.
Conrad brought up several in-custody death cases where Wohlgelernter used electrocardiogram data to rule out causes of death that weren’t hypoxia. The cardiologist said he has to analyze facts in a consistent way, and the pulseless electrical activity that Ellis and others who have died in restraints experienced before death was a manifestation of hypoxia.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The News Tribune
Cardiologist also testifies police restraint caused Manuel Ellis' death
A cardiologist called by prosecutors testified Wednesday morning that the way police restrained Manuel Ellis caused him to asphyxiate, go into cardiac arrest and die.
Dr. Daniel Wohlgelernter, section chief of cardiology at a hospital in Santa Monica, California, told jurors it was his opinion that asphyxia was the result of Ellis being held down on his stomach while restrained in handcuffs and a hobble with the weight of officers on top of him. He said that meant Ellis’ chest didn’t have room to expand, so his organs could not get enough oxygen.
“He’s having difficulty breathing then agonal breathing which is a weak, ineffective, slow kind of breathing, which is occurring right at the doorstep of death,” Wohlgelernter testified.
Cardiology is the area of medicine related to the treatment of the heart and major blood vessels. Wohlgelernter’s opinion mirrored the original autopsy findings of former Pierce County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Clark, who ruled Ellis’ death a homicide in June 2020 and said the cause was hypoxia, a form of oxygen deprivation. It also supported the opinion of forensic pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell, who testified last week that Ellis’ death was the result of his “violent subdual and restraint” by law enforcement.
Wohlgelernter, who graduated from the Yale University School of Medicine and received his medical doctorate in 1977, said he has more than 35 years of clinical experience. He said to make a conclusion on Ellis’ cause of death, he reviewed Ellis’ medical records, autopsy reports, the reports of paramedics, the statements of the officers and electrocardiogram data from the heart monitor used on Ellis.
Under direct examination from special prosecutor Patty Eakes, the cardiologist pointed out for jurors on a television monitor how the electrocardiogram data shows that the electrical activity of Ellis’ heart slowed, which he said was consistent with hypoxia. Shortly before 11:41 p.m., his heart appeared to nearly flatline, and CPR was started.
Wohlgelernter said Ellis’ heart still had some electrical activity, but he had no pulse.
“The muscle is no longer functioning,” Wohlgelernter said.
Before court broke for lunch, Eakes asked the expert witness if there was a minimum amount of time someone would need to be restrained for hypoxia to occur. Wohlgelernter said there isn’t because many variables are at play. He said someone like Ellis, who had been in a physical struggle, had methamphetamine in his system and had an enlarged heart would need more air.
“Someone with a heightened oxygen requirement can succumb to oxygen deprivation far more quickly than someone who is resting,” he said.
Earlier in the morning, attorneys for the officers completed their cross examination of Steven Mell, a Pierce County Sheriff’s Department forensic investigator who went to the scene the night of Ellis' death to take scans and photographs.
Mell’s testimony supported officers’ claims that Ellis hit their patrol car. He and jurors were shown photographs of the vehicle showing white streaks on the passenger’s side window where Burbank was seated. Mell said there was no question in his mind that the white substance was powdered sugar from a box of raspberry-filled doughnuts found on the ground by the passenger's side door.
Ellis purchased a jug of water and those doughnuts when he went to a 7-Eleven the night of his death, according to testimony, and he was on his way home when he encountered the officers. Mell did not offer an opinion as to how the powdered sugar got on the window, but attorneys for the officers have returned to the white powder as evidence that Ellis pounded on the patrol car with his fists, leading the officers to get out to restrain and subdue him.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The News Tribune
Forensic investigator continues testimony, cardiologist called next
Steven Mell, a forensic investigator for the Pierce County Sheriff's department resumed testifying Wednesday morning. Mell photographed the scene the night of March 3, 2020.
After the defense cross-examined Mell, the prosecution called medical expert Dr. Daniel Wohlgelernter to testify.
A cardiologist for over 40 years, the Attorney General's office asked Wohlgelernter in 2021 to review the medical records, autopsy and investigation for this case.
Watch a livestream of the proceedings on the Pierce County website.
Paramedic testifies he found Manuel Ellis barely breathing
A paramedic testifying Tuesday in the trial of three Tacoma police officers charged with killing Manny Ellis found Ellis barely breathing.
After he told police to remove restraints from Ellis’ wrists and ankles, Tacoma Fire paramedic Nicholas Wilson said he cut away a spit hood on his head and then he realized Ellis had stopped breathing. He said his heart was beating too slowly. Ellis' pupils were fixed and dilated.
"I am anticipating a cardiac arrest just looking at this. He's unstable, he's unconscious. He's unresponsive. He's not breathing, we're breathing for him. It's affecting no change," Wilson said.
"He's not responding positively to our treatments. And I'm watching this and this looks like deterioration to me."
Wilson testified that because police had told him that Ellis had been violent, he believes Ellis died from cardiac arrest due to "excited delirium."
"Excited delirium" is generally associated with police restraining people who are agitated due to a combination of drugs and mental health issues, then die suddenly. But most medical experts say the science doesn’t support it.
Pierce County’s Medical Examiner determined Ellis died of oxygen deprivation from the spit hood and restraints. Forensic pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell testified last week that Ellis suffocated after officers violently subdued and hogtied him.
After Wilson, two other witnesses were called Tuesday: Jackie Franklin, a senior investigator for the Attorney General's Office, followed by Steven Mell, a forensic investigator to the Pierce County Sheriff's Department.
Tacoma medic testifies about medical response the night Ellis died
A medic from the Tacoma Fire Department who responded to the scene on the night Manuel Ellis died testified Tuesday afternoon that he disagrees with the cause of death declared by a medical examiner.
“My belief is that this was an excited delirium event,” Lt. Nicholas Wilson testified.
"Excited delirium" is a term embraced by law enforcement to describe subjects acting erratically, usually suspected of using drugs, who have been described to possess superhuman strength and immunity to physical pain. It’s a controversial term that has served as a catchall to explain deaths in police custody in lieu of other explanations.
Major medical and psychiatric associations have rejected "excited delirium" as invalid, and the state of California now refuses to recognize it as an explanation for deaths.
Wilson testified that he arrived at the intersection where police had subdued Ellis to find Ellis lying on his back or side with the consciousness level “of a rock.” At least one officer was holding Ellis from behind, and he was handcuffed with a strap looping the cuffs to his ankles.
Tacoma police officers on scene told Wilson that Ellis had been acting aggressively and appeared to be experiencing "excited delirium," Wilson testified. He said medics give great weight to what police tell them at scenes they respond to, and that night was no exception. Wilson denied personally knowing any of the officers on trial, but he acknowledged the “close working relationship” that exists between Tacoma police and Tacoma fire personnel. “They protect us,” he said.
Wilson said he recognized on sight that Ellis was in severe respiratory distress. “[Police] expressed some concern for safety,” Wilson testified. “We assured them that was no longer an issue, and we began to render care.” Soon, Ellis lapsed into cardiac arrest.
Medics used an oxygen-rich ventilator, tried CPR with the help of police, tried a defibrillator and administered life-saving pharmaceuticals but were unable to save Ellis.
While major medical organizations reject the concept of "excited delirium," Pierce County and Tacoma governments still embrace it.
“It’s in our texts,” Wilson said. “It’s in our training. It’s in our protocol in the county.”
Wilson testified he’s seen "excited delirium" firsthand.
“I have seen excited delirium in the past,” said Wilson, who has 20 years experience as a medic. “These acute, agitated states are not uncommon, with the amount of drug use individuals are consuming now, and they don’t know what they’re consuming. We see people [overdose] at work every day now.”
Under questioning from Special Prosecutor Patty Eakes, Wilson said the statements from police on scene were valuable and informed his opinion that Ellis died from a heart attack caused by "excited delirium." Without the officers’ account, Wilson said he would be providing medical intervention with "incomplete information."
However, Wilson testified that none of the law enforcement personnel on scene ever informed him that multiple officers had sat and pressed on Ellis’ back during the struggle.
As Eakes pressed further, Wilson acknowledged that determining causes of death is not part of his job.
Last week, Dr. Roger Mitchell, former chief medical examiner for Washington, D.C., testified that he agreed with ex-Pierce County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Clark’s ruling that Ellis died by homicide from oxygen deprivation caused by physical restraint.
Mitchell, a certified pathologist whose expertise is in determining causes of death, explained why professional medical organizations reject the existence of excited delirium.
Mitchell said deaths ascribed to excited delirium often involve other factors, such as restraint, that are overlooked.
Tuesday’s final witness was Steven Mell, a forensic investigator for the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, who photographed the scene where Ellis died. Testimony resumes Wednesday with Mell on the stand.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The Seattle Times.
Lawyers argue over what witnesses can tell jurors about spit hood
A discussion Tuesday outside the jury’s presence dealt with an alternative explanation to Manuel Ellis’ death: that another officer at the scene, and none of the three who are charged, could have been responsible.
Tacoma police officer Armando Farinas was another of the many law enforcement and rescue personnel who responded to the scene. Farinas placed a spit hood on Ellis, and while the Attorney General’s Office declined to charge Farinas, he promises to be a central figure in the officers’ trial, where he’ll be cast in the unusual dual roles of witness and alternative suspect.
Prosecutors and defense lawyers haggled over the spit hood and what witnesses can tell the jury about it, before Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff ruled that prosecutors cannot ask questions about the warnings on spit hoods. A spit hood placed on Ellis the night he died was noted in the Pierce County Medical Examiner’s findings as a key factor.
Special prosecutor Patty Eakes, working for the Washington Attorney General’s office, informed Chushcoff of her intention to call at least one witness who would testify that the spit hood’s instructions explicitly warn against using it on someone who is having trouble breathing. A spit hood is a nylon device that is sometimes placed on suspects’ heads to prevent them from spitting on officers.
Lawyers for the three officers on trial argued that prosecution witnesses should not be able to spotlight the overt warning on spit hoods, which warns against using them on people having difficulty breathing, because none of the defendants is alleged to have played a role in placing the spit hood on Ellis.
Nonetheless, Assistant Attorney General Kent Liu argued that Officers Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank and Timothy Rankine had “a duty of custodial” care for Ellis. “These three defendants are aware Mr. Ellis said he couldn’t breathe,” Liu said. “We know that they were present when the spit hood was applied.”
“You’re saying they’re responsible for him, even in the care of other people?” Judge Chushcoff asked Liu. “You’re trying to make them responsible for other officers’ actions?”
Lawyers for each of the officers on trial denied that their clients were familiar with spit hoods, having never been issued any or trained on their use by the Tacoma Police Department, so the admonition on the spit hood’s package was unknown to them.
Even Judge Chushcoff, when he issued his ruling blocking the prosecution from asking its witnesses specifically about the warning on the package, noted its utility to the officers’ defense.
“The defendants could say those other officers shouldn’t have used it, and that’s what caused his death,” he said.
Jurors on Tuesday morning heard the conclusion of testimony by a prosecution video expert and a medic from the Tacoma Fire Department who responded to the scene where Ellis died. He will continue testifying in the afternoon.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The Seattle Times.
Video expert’s analysis supports eyewitness accounts that officers acted with aggression
A forensic video expert for the prosecution on Monday supported the accounts of eyewitnesses, who earlier testified that the fatal interaction between Manuel Ellis and three Tacoma police officers on trial for his death began when officers – not Ellis – acted with aggression.
Grant Fredericks testified that his analysis of a composite of video and audio collected from witnesses’ recordings showed Ellis did not kick or strike at officers as they slammed him to the ground and then swung at his head.
Four eyewitnesses for the prosecution testified last week that Officers Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank initiated the violence unprovoked. Lawyers defending the officers say Ellis was the aggressor.
Fredericks bolstered the eyewitnesses’ accounts on Monday. He slowed down scenes from the early moments of the struggle captured on video, which was played for the jury. According to Fredericks’ analysis, it shows Ellis did not kick at or strike officers while Burbank took Ellis forcefully to the ground, and Collins swung at least four punches in his direction.
Fredericks conceded the video he analyzed is incomplete because, at times, details of the action are indiscernible. Wayne Fricke, a defense lawyer for Burbank, concentrated his questions around what happened before the eyewitness videos started rolling. Fredericks said he couldn’t say.
Casey Arbenz, an attorney for Collins, 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.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The Seattle Times.
Trial is behind schedule, jury shown composite video
The trial of three Tacoma police officers charged in the death of Manuel Ellis 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.
The trial marks the first time in 85 years that this many officers have been charged for an on-duty death in Washington state.
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. But 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 that 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.
Testimony resumes Monday afternoon.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The Seattle Times.
Court resumes with prosecution forensic video expert
Court resumed Monday morning with Grant Fredericks, a certified forensic video analyst, scheduled to continue testimony.
Fredericks was the first witness the prosecution called to testify after opening statements on Oct. 3. He was recalled by the state to testify again on Thursday.
Before the jury was seated, lawyers and the judge discussed the trial's timeline. The state previously said they expect to put on their case in about four weeks, resting by the beginning of November.
Attorney General’s Office special prosecutor Patty Eakes told the court the proceedings had gone slower than the prosecution had anticipated. They now hope to rest their case by the third week of November.
Watch a livestream of the proceedings on the Pierce County website.
Defense cross-examines crime-scene investigator, forensic video expert recalled to testify
Prosecutors recalled their forensic video expert Thursday afternoon to testify to an image-by-image reproduction of eyewitness video from the fatal encounter.
Grant Fredericks, a certified forensic video analyst for a company in Spokane, testified about the beginning of Sara McDowell’s video, which was taken from her car behind the officers’ police cruiser at the beginning of the incident.
The video played briefly, and it showed an officer repeatedly punching Manuel Ellis. As Fredericks went through the first few video stills before the punches, he pointed out that Officer Christopher Burbank’s arm was underneath Ellis’ thigh before Ellis went to the ground.
The brief testimony followed heated discussion between attorneys and the court over what video should be shown to jurors. Prosecutors wanted to play video that synched up all of the eyewitness video and various audio sources of the incident, but which removed dispatch recordings that prosecutors said drowned out audio captured on a doorbell security camera.
Lawyers for the officers said removing audio didn’t tell the full story of what happened. Judge Bryan Chushcoff agreed, saying it changed the experience of what actually happened, and it was potentially misleading.
Fredericks' testimony Thursday followed the defense’s cross-examination of Steven Wilkins, a now retired Pierce County Sheriff’s Department crime-scene investigator who photographed officers involved in the incident the night Ellis died and went to the scene at 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue.
Aside from Collins, Burbank and Rankine, Wilkins also photographed law enforcement officers not charged in Ellis’ death but still considered to be involved. Photos of Rankine’s partner, Masyih Ford, were shown to the jury, along with pictures of Sheriff’s Department Lt. Anthony Messineo and detective sergeant Gary Sanders. They did not appear to have any injuries.
Anne Bremner, an attorney for Rankine, asked Wilkins to describe her client’s demeanor when he photographed him.
“Professional. Respectful. Reserved,” Wilkins said.
The other officers he photographed were similarly professional and respectful, Wilkins said. Bremner began to ask him if he was aware that Ford’s involvement in the incident was equal to that of Rankine, but she was cut off by objections from the state, which Chushcoff sustained. Wilkins later said he didn’t know the extent to which any of the officers were involved.
Lawyers for the officers also showed jurors photos of a box of raspberry-filled powdered doughnuts near Collins and Burbank’s police cruiser and a jug of water by the curb. Ellis was walking home with both items after going to a 7-Eleven, and attorneys for the officers have said that doughnut powder on the vehicle supports their claims that after the officers called Ellis over to their vehicle to ask if he was OK, Ellis became aggressive and pounded on the windows with his fists.
The photo showed light streaks on the passenger-side window, and it isn’t clear what the streaks are from. Wilkins said he didn’t determine what was on the glass.
Court is in recess until Monday.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The News Tribune.
Crime-scene investigator testifies about documenting the scene, condition of the officers involved
After attorneys completed their questioning of eyewitness Aiyana Mallang Thursday morning, jurors heard from a crime-scene investigator who went to the scene and later took photos of the officers.
Steven Wilkins, a retired Pierce County Sheriff’s Department forensics manager who was on call the night Ellis died, testified for prosecutors that he arrived at 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue at about 1:13 a.m. and saw Manuel Ellis lying in the road covered by a blanket. He told jurors he’d been advised an in-custody death occurred but not how it happened
Wilkins said he took photos and videos to document the scene, and he was initially the lead investigator there. Then he was called to the Sheriff’s Department’s Parkland-Spanaway precinct to photograph the officers involved. Assistant attorney general Lori Nicolavo asked whether he saw any blood on the men.
“The answer would be no,” Wilkins said.
The photographs, which were displayed on courtroom televisions, showed every side of the defendants in uniform, officers Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank and Timothy Rankine. They also showed close-ups of injuries. Collins had a small cut on his thumb and red marks on two other fingers, a small cut on the back of one arm and his knees were slightly scuffed. The face of the officer’s watch was broken. Burbank appeared to have a scuffed knee, and Rankine didn’t have any injuries.
Four eyewitnesses have testified that the officers were the aggressors in the fatal interaction, and other testimony has shown that Ellis told police at least five times that he could not breathe while he was restrained on his stomach with officers taking turns sitting on his back.
During prosecutors’ direct examination of the crime-scene investigator, Nicolavo asked him what he knew about some of the items booked into evidence, including a cell phone and Ellis’ EBT card. Wilkins said the items were given to him when he arrived at the scene, but no one pointed out where they’d been found.
Nicolavo also asked Wilkins what he saw on the police cruiser at the scene, and the witness said he looked for possible damage or fingerprints, but he didn’t see any. Nicolavo asked why the vehicle wasn’t processed for evidence, and Wilkins said that decision would have been made by someone after he left the scene.
Defense attorneys’ cross-examination of the crime-scene investigator will continue Thursday afternoon.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The News Tribune.
Prosecution eyewitnesses describe lopsided struggle
All four state’s witnesses who watched Tacoma police officers restrain Manuel Ellis have testified. Keyon Lowery, Sara McDowell, Samuel “Seth” Cowden and Aiyana Mallang described a lopsided struggle ending with Ellis squirming on the ground under the weight of officers Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank.
Three of the witnesses said officers punched Ellis multiple times. Mallang, watching from her bedroom window, said an officer took a step to wind up and kick Ellis on the ground, then lunged down to punch him. She also said Ellis pleaded with officers that he couldn’t breathe in between Taser shocks.
“He was saying, ‘Please, sir, stop,” Mallang testified. “Then the repeated I can’t breathe, I can’t breathe.”
Two medical examiners have determined Ellis ultimately suffocated while facedown on the pavement with his handcuffs strapped to his ankles, an officer on his back and a spit hood over his head. Defense attorneys for Collins, Burbank and back-up officer Timothy Rankine contend a lethal dose of methamphetamine stopped Ellis’ enlarged heart.
It remains unclear exactly what prompted the struggle that began after Burbank threw open his door into Ellis, knocking him to the ground. Lowery, McDowell, and Cowden said Ellis had been walking casually beforehand.
All four witnesses testified they didn’t see Ellis strike at the officers during the struggle. They described Ellis trying to twist away from officers pinning him to the ground with their knees but not bucking or kicking aggressively as the officers claim.
“He looks like he’s struggling, but I mean he just got beat up,” McDowell said on the stand while reviewing a video she recorded. “He was probably struggling to breathe in my opinion.”
Under cross-examination by defense attorneys, the four witnesses conceded some of their memories had faded in the last three years. The attorneys for the officers implied the witnesses missed parts of the struggle with Ellis due to distractions and their partial viewpoints.
Defense attorneys spent the most time discrediting two drivers who recorded video supporting their accounts of the struggle. McDowell was waiting at a red light directly behind the patrol SUV. Cowden stopped his car across the street before turning through the intersection.
Their videos show officers punch, Taser and use a neck restraint on Ellis, who appeared to go limp at one point.
Both drivers contacted the Ellis family and their attorney James Bible with the videos in June 2020 after Ellis’ death was ruled a homicide. Defense attorneys asked questions suggesting that the witnesses changed their testimony to support the prosecution and that McDowell destroyed additional footage of the struggle.
Defense attorney Casey Arbenz peppered Cowden with questions: “This wasn’t coaching by the state? This wasn’t coaching by Mr. Bible? There’s no one else trying to influence your testimony?”
Defense attorneys are expected to call two more eyewitnesses to the stand once the prosecution rests its case next month. Court papers show those two witnesses described the officers struggling to restrain Ellis on the ground while he bucked and lifted them up.
A fourth eyewitness testifies she heard Ellis plead with officers that he could not breathe
Jurors heard from a fourth eyewitness Wednesday afternoon who testified that she heard Ellis plead with officers that he could not breathe four or five times.
The testimony of Aiyana Mallang, who formerly used the last name White, supported sworn statements from three other eyewitnesses who have described the police as the aggressors in the deadly encounter. She said she saw an officer lunge at Ellis and punch him while she watched from inside her home at the corner of 96th Street and Ainsworth Avenue. She saw Ellis trying to twist away from an officer’s grasp, she said, and she heard his panicked tone as he asked the police to stop, followed by the buzz of a Taser.
“He was saying please, sir, stop,” Mallang said. “Then the repeated ‘I can’t breathe, I can't breathe.’”
Two of the officers, Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank, told detectives they never heard Ellis say he couldn’t breathe. The third officer, Timothy Rankine, who arrived at the scene after a call for backup, reported that he heard Ellis say he couldn’t breathe but stayed on top of him.
Mallang, 28, told jurors and Assistant Attorneys General Kent Liu she has lived at her house near the scene of Ellis’ death for several years and grew up there as a child. That night, she said her fiancé, her three children, her brother and his wife were with her. She was getting ready for bed when the continued sound of raised outside voices drew her to a window, and she saw an officer trying to grab and restrain Ellis in front of a police cruiser.
Looking out her bedroom window, Mallang testified she saw Ellis fall in front of the police car after an officer grabbed him, and she heard a woman in a car behind the police vehicle yell at police to stop. After the sound of a Taser, she said an officer gestured for the traffic to move along.
Mallang said she then saw an officer’s body on top of Ellis, and she heard the man say he could not breathe, followed shortly after by the sound of another Taser shock. About a minute later, she said two more officers arrived and helped restrain Ellis.
A larger law enforcement response soon followed with at least 15 vehicles on the scene, Mallang said. The woman said her view of Ellis was mostly obstructed by a wall of six to eight police officers who surrounded the man’s body while he was restrained on the ground. A short video of that police response Mallang recorded from inside her home was shown in the courtroom. Her house was also equipped with a doorbell security camera which captured some of Ellis’ pleas for air.
Mallang’s testimony came after defense attorneys spent part of the morning cross examining another eyewitness, Samuel "Seth" Cowden. Attorneys questioned his descriptions of the start of Ellis’ encounter with police, at one point pressuring him to change his description of how Ellis was walking. Cowden testified Tuesday that Ellis was strolling casually on the sidewalk, as if enjoying nature or listening to music.
Casey Arbenz, an attorney for Collins, brought up social media posts from Cowden where he described the neighborhood as the “ghetto” and a bad part of town, asking him if anyone walked through that area to enjoy nature. Cowden said his testimony was just trying to describe the pace of Ellis’ walk.
Cowden was also sometimes questioned about his vision. He said only one of his eyes has worked well since birth, and while his vision is perfect, his doctors have told him his depth perception is not good. The issue came up after a defense attorney asked him where he saw police initially positioned.
Wednesday ended with attorneys for the defendants beginning to cross examine Mallang. Their questioning will continue Thursday morning.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The News Tribune.
Third eyewitness testifies that officers attacked Ellis first
Samuel “Seth” Cowden, a third eyewitness who testified he saw police initiate the fatal encounter that led to the death of Manuel Ellis, was cross-examined Wednesday morning by attorneys for the officers on trial.
Wayne Fricke, an attorney for officer Christopher Burbank, questioned Cowden about his communications with James Bible, an attorney for Ellis’ family, and what he initially thought was happening when he saw police struggling with Ellis.
Cowden said he first contacted Bible after seeing him mentioned in a newspaper article in June 2020 about Ellis’ death, and he did an interview with the attorney soon after. Bible also accompanied him to some interviews with investigators. Cowden agreed that after one interview, he told Bible he wanted to apologize if anything he said was disappointing.
Cowden testified that during his first interview with investigators from the Washington State Patrol he told them his first thought at the scene was that police were responding to a call in the area to make an arrest.
Ellis’ first reaction seemed to be panic, Cowden said, but he didn't act aggressively. His video, which played for jurors Wednesday morning, showed Ellis being shocked with a Taser and pulled to the ground. Officers Christopher Burbank and Matthew Collins were on top of him, and Ellis’ legs flailed while he’s held down on his stomach.
Cowden said he took the video because it seemed to him that something was happening and he wanted to see how it turned out.
“I don’t think anyone would have believed me,” Cowden said Tuesday.
Later in the morning, Casey Arbenz, an attorney for Collins, questioned Cowden further. Arbenz asked Cowden about discrepancies between his statements in pre-trial interviews and his testimony. Arbenz said Cowden previously said he saw Ellis be struck by the police cruiser’s door, but now he was unsure whether he actually saw it hit the man.
The defense’s cross examination will continue Wednesday afternoon. A fourth eyewitness is expected to testify next for the prosecution.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The News Tribune.
Pizza delivery driver who captured video scheduled to resume testimony
Samuel “Seth” Cowden, a pizza delivery driver working the night Manuel Ellis died, is scheduled to continue his testimony Wednesday morning.
Cowden took a cell phone video of Ellis' encounter with Tacoma police officers Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank. On Tuesday, he testified about what he witnessed and said he never saw Ellis act aggressively towards officers.
A courtroom livestream is available on the Pierce County website.
Jurors hear audio expert's testimony, a third eyewitness takes the stand
Jurors in the trial of three Tacoma police officers charged with the death of Manuel Ellis heard audio recordings Tuesday of Ellis desperately pleading that he couldn’t breathe on the night in 2020 that he died.
It accompanied testimony from David Hallimore, an expert in forensic audio analysis who testified Tuesday that Ellis said he couldn't breathe repeatedly, even as officers applied pressure while he lie prone in the street. They say he was resisting arrest.
Hallimore, a retired Houston police officer with 37 years of experience conducting forensic audio investigations, pieced together a transcript from several videos of the night Ellis died. It showed that Ellis told officers who were restraining him that he couldn’t breathe at least five times.
Officers Matthew Collins and Christopher Burbank, who are both white, told detectives they never heard Ellis express that he was in physical distress. Instead, they described Ellis to detectives as “growling” and making “animal noises” throughout the final minutes of his life.
Jurors followed along on the transcript Hallimore had generated as an audio stream compiled from various videos and police radio traffic was played in the courtroom. At one point, Ellis can be heard pleading in distress, and someone responds, “Shut the (expletive) up.” Collins and Burbank were the only officers present at that time.
Under cross-examination by Collins’ lawyer Casey Arbenz, Hallimore admitted he couldn’t be certain that officers on the scene the night Ellis died heard everything that Hallimore heard during his analysis.
Samuel “Seth” Cowden, 22, took the stand late Tuesday afternoon. He was delivering pizzas on the night Ellis died and took cell phone video of Collins and Burbank roughly handling Ellis.
Cowden said he arrived at the intersection of 96th Street South and South Ainsworth Avenue and watched a police cruiser pull up. Ellis was walking “casually” on a sidewalk adjacent to the rear of the police vehicle, when Ellis appeared to be summoned to the car.
As Ellis approached the car, Cowden said he watched as the cruiser’s passenger side door opened. Ellis fell from Cowden’s view and the officers exited their cruiser. That’s when Cowden began recording video with his cell phone. A flurry of commands and screams that Cowden described as “a melee” followed.
“One of the officers got behind Manuel Ellis, and they put him in some sort of headlock or armlock, restrained him from behind and brought him down to his knees,” Cowden said.
“I saw Manuel Ellis’ arms being raised up, then they fired the taser shots after that moment,” Cowden said. It appeared the officers were in control and in the process of cuffing Ellis’ hands behind his back when Cowden stopped recording video and left the scene.
Collins applied the neck hold to Ellis and Burbank fired the taser, according to their interviews with detectives.
Cowden said he never saw Ellis act aggressively toward the officers.
Cowden hadn’t considered the video for a couple of months, until he saw a newspaper article referencing Ellis’s death and the location. That’s when Cowden said he realized what he had recorded. He contacted Ellis’ family’s lawyer, who was referenced in the news article, and provided the video to him.
Testimony is scheduled to resume Wednesday in Pierce County Superior Court with Cowden testifying.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The Seattle Times.
Defense challenges transcript from forensic audio expert
Lawyers for three Tacoma police officers charged with the death of Manuel Ellis spent Tuesday morning trying to keep a prosecution expert in forensic audio from presenting to jurors a transcript featuring Ellis’ dying gasps of “can’t breathe.”
David Hallimore, a retired Houston police officer who has 37 years of experience with forensic audio investigations, developed a transcript pieced together from videos collected on the night Ellis died. It showed that Ellis repeatedly told officers who were restraining him that he couldn’t breathe.
Hallimore used audio-enhancement software to develop a transcript from video clips of the scene where Ellis died, as sirens blared and a large crowd of law enforcement officers’ words mixed with Ellis’ to create a cacophony of chaotic noises. Hallimore found that Ellis said at least seven times that he could not breathe.
Officer Timothy Rankine’s lawyer, Mark Conrad, argued outside the jury’s presence that audio from the night of Ellis’ death speaks for itself. He objected to sharing Hallimore’s analysis with the jury. Conrad challenged Hallimore’s claim that he developed the skill of “critical listening” that allows him to parse competing sounds better than a layman could through practice and repetition.
“It’s an individual skill that you have to personally commit to improve and strive to work on,” Hallimore explained.
In his questioning of Hallimore, Conrad suggested that the expert was malleable and had bowed to the wishes of the Attorney General’s Office by identifying so many instances when Ellis said he couldn’t breathe. Conrad’s questions were based on emails between Hallimore and the AG’s office and corresponding revisions he made to his transcripts.
Hallimore, under questioning from lead attorney Kent Liu of the Washington Attorney General’s Office, denied that he allows clients to dictate his findings. Hallimore said he strives to be “as accurate as possible.”
Ellis’ repeated pleas of distress noted in Hallimore’s transcript are critical evidence, particularly in the manslaughter charge that each officer faces. Initiative 940, passed by Washington voters in 2018 and adopted by the state Legislature a year later, requires officers to intervene when a subject they’ve been engaged with is in medical distress.
Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff ruled that Hallimore’s transcript could be introduced, noting that it provides jurors a vital chronology of events. But the judge ordered two of the seven instances when Hallimore determined that Ellis said he couldn’t breathe to be marked “unintelligible” instead. He said jurors could draw their own conclusions about what they hear.
Chushcoff also ruled that enhanced audio Hallimore had developed would not be played for the jury. Chushcoff said it might not be representative of what people at the scene would have heard, particularly the officer defendants.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The Seattle Times.
Catch up: What's happened so far in the trial
KNKX reporters Mayowa Aina and Jared Brown have been covering the trial every day.
Ahead of the third week of testimony, they sat down together to talk about the forensic evidence and key witness testimony that's been presented so far.
Listen below or read the transcript.
Defense cross-examines Mitchell about his motives, compensation and 'excited delirium'
During cross-examination of Dr. Roger Mitchell, former chief medical examiner for Washington, D.C., defense attorneys took aim at Mitchell’s testimony and motives.
Officer Matthew Collins’ lawyer, Jared Ausserer, called out Mitchell for describing himself on social media as “an advocate.” Mitchell, who is Black, said he is indeed an advocate for finding public health solutions to problems that have disproportionately affected Black Americans. He acknowledged having said it’s important to teach the new generation of Black physicians to “stand up against white supremacy.”
Mitchell, who produces a podcast about deaths in police custody, said he wasn’t aware of a racial element to the charges against the officers and testified that his podcast doesn’t exclusively focus on the deaths of Black men.
Ausserer questioned Mitchell about his compensation from the Washington Attorney General for his work and testimony in the case. Mitchell said he expects to total between $35,000 and $40,000.
Ausserer also questioned Mitchell about “excited delirium,” a controversial term that law enforcement – and some medical examiners – sometimes use to describe people in a mental health crisis or suspected of being on drugs who inexplicably die, usually in the presence of police. Major medical and psychiatric organizations have rejected excited delirium as a myth, Mitchell testified.
“The cases that have been attributed to excited delirium are cases that often have other restraint-related issues that have not been diagnosed as restraint-related issues,” Mitchell testified.
He answered directly when he was asked what caused Ellis’ death.
“It’s him being beat up that caused his death,” Mitchell testified.
Testimony is scheduled to resume Tuesday, when the prosecution is expected to call a forensic audio expert to testify.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The Seattle Times.
Defense attorneys spar with prosecution medical expert
Defense attorneys for the Tacoma police officers sparred with a prosecution medical expert after trial resumed Monday morning.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Roger Mitchell told the jury that officers killed Manuel Ellis by forcefully restraining him after a violent struggle, causing him to suffocate.
Brett Purtzer, an attorney for Officer Christopher Burbank, attempted to get Mitchell to concede that Ellis was struggling with police.
"But if we're talking about the fight, if I may, the fight is what killed him," Mitchell said.
“Well, the fight’s not what killed him. He killed himself by resisting police officers,” Purtzer replied.
Judge Bryan Chushcoff told the jury to disregard Purtzer’s comments after an objection from the state. Supporters of the Ellis family groaned in the courtroom.
Defense attorneys have generally argued Ellis died of a methamphetamine overdose.
Later, an attorney for Officer Matthew Collins questioned Mitchell about his history of medical advocacy. Mitchell said he has a podcast and book about deaths in police custody and the need for stricter standards to investigate them.
Forensic pathologist continues testimony, juror questioned about viewing livestream
Tacoma police officers Matthew Collins, Christopher “Shane” Burbank and Timothy Rankine, are all charged with first-degree manslaughter in the death of Manuel Ellis. Collins and Burbank, the first officers to engage with Ellis when they say he was hassling a car as it passed through an intersection, also are charged with second-degree murder.
All three have pleaded not guilty and are free on bail. They remain employed by the Tacoma Police Department, on paid leave.
They are accused of applying continual force as Ellis repeatedly pleaded that he couldn’t breathe.
The court had been in recess since Thursday, when Dr. Roger Mitchell, a prosecution expert in forensic pathology, affirmed the Pierce County Medical examiner’s finding that Ellis had died from oxygen deprivation caused by physical restraint.
The medical examiner also noted a potentially lethal level of methamphetamine in Ellis’ system. Lawyers defending the officers offered jurors an alternative explanation during opening statements: that Ellis died of an overdose.
Special prosecutor Patty Eakes asked Mitchell how he determined that Ellis didn’t die of an overdose.
“He’s walking home. He has this level of methamphetamine, he has the [enlarged] heart, and the intervening cause is the violent altercation and subdual,” Mitchell said. “It’s him being beat up that caused his death.”
Mitchell said Ellis’ drug intoxication and enlarged heart made it more difficult for him to recover, but that absent the officers’ actions, those factors wouldn’t have killed Ellis.
Mitchell described the physiological process that he determined ended Ellis’ life. Internal levels of acid indicated that Ellis endured respiratory arrest. “There is clear evidence that he was placed in a prone position with individuals on his back and a hobbled restraint,” Mitchell said.
“That circumstance, after which someone has been in a violent altercation, is going to impede his ability to then be able to get enough oxygen to breathe as fully as is needed to sustain his life.” Mitchell said a spit hood placed on Ellis’ head further restricted his breathing.
Jury drama briefly delayed proceedings in the morning. Before Mitchell returned to the witness stand on Monday, Pierce County Superior Court Judge Bryan Chushcoff alerted lawyers for the prosecution and defense that an alternate juror notified the court on Friday that one of the jurors had watched a livestream video of court action last Thursday.
Chushcoff has warned jurors from the outset not to discuss the case they’re considering with anyone else. The court has provided an online viewing option to accommodate the high public interest in the case. The judge questioned the juror in question, a white man roughly in his 40s, about what had been reported.
The juror admitted to accidentally turning on the livestream of the trial happening outside the jury’s presence. He said he was trying to send a link of the livestream feed to someone, but accidentally clicked on it, and the video began to play.
“It was just a little quick moment,” the juror told Chushcoff. “I heard your voice and said, ‘Oh!’ and turned it off.”
Neither the defense nor the prosecution asked the judge to remove the juror, so he returned to the panel.
Mitchell remained on the witness stand under cross-examination by the officers’ defense teams until the noon recess. He will resume testimony on Monday afternoon.
Excerpted from pool report provided by The Seattle Times.
Court resumes in trial of three Tacoma officers
Court is scheduled to resume in Tacoma at 9 a.m. on Monday.
Dr. Robert Mitchell, a forensic pathologist and former Washington D.C. Chief Medical Examiner, is expected to resume his testimony for the prosecution.
On Thursday, Mitchell testified that law enforcement played a bigger role in Ellis’ death than the initial autopsy report found.
KNKX will continue to update this blog throughout the week. See coverage from the past two weeks of the trial, including opening statements and testimony from the first eight witnesses.
A courtroom livestream is also available on the Pierce County website.