More questions Friday from jurors deliberating the case against 3 Tacoma police officers
TACOMA – Jurors met for a second day of deliberations Friday but did not reach a verdict for the three Tacoma police officers tried for the death of Manuel Ellis.
The panel of seven men and five women sent out two more questions regarding when a person’s actions can become unlawful and what jurors can consider regarding the defendant officers’ uses of force the night Ellis died in their custody.
Prosecutors from the Washington state Attorney General’s Office, defense attorneys and officers Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank and Timothy Rankine returned to court at 9 a.m. to hear the questions.
The first was nearly identical to a query the jury sent out Thursday afternoon. Judge Bryan Chushcoff said jurors asked, “Can an action or actions become unlawful at any point during an encounter when initial contact was lawful – justified.”
Chushcoff and the attorneys agreed to refer jurors to Thursday’s answer, which was that jurors’ hypothetical was possible, and when an action is lawful is explained in several of their instructions.
The second question, Chushcoff said, was, “Although each officer is charged individually, is it OK to take into consideration the combined force used on individual (sic) collectively.”
Defense attorneys said the court had ruled that only Collins and Burbank can be considered accomplices to one another, meaning they could be held responsible for each other’s actions. Rankine arrived after their initial encounter with Ellis in Tacoma’s South End, and Chushcoff has ruled that prosecutors didn’t present evidence to support giving jurors the option to convict him as an accomplice to manslaughter.
Assistant attorney general Lori Nicolavo said they don’t know the context for the jurors’ question, and she said it would be improper to refer them to a relevant instruction because it could be a comment on the evidence.
Chushcoff agreed, and he wrote to jurors that they should review their instructions.
All three officers are charged with first-degree manslaughter for Ellis’ death the night of March 3, 2020. Collins and Burbank face an additional charge of second-degree murder.
Jurors could also choose to convict the officers of a lesser-included offense of second-degree manslaughter. All three have pleaded not guilty, are free on bail and have remained on paid leave from the Tacoma Police Department.
Ellis, 33, died after a struggle with police where he was beaten and pressed to the street on his stomach with all of his limbs tied behind his back. A series of officers put weight on him, and Ellis’ last words were, “I can’t breathe.”
The former Pierce County medical examiner ruled Ellis’ death a homicide caused by oxygen deprivation from physical restraint. His autopsy report noted Ellis had a methamphetamine concentration of 2400 nanograms per milliliter and an enlarged heart, facts that the defense has continuously pointed to as evidence Ellis’ death was an overdose, not a murder or manslaughter committed by police.
Jurors ended their deliberations at 3 p.m. Friday, according to a Pierce County spokesperson, an hour earlier than when they broke for the day Thursday. Deliberations will continue Monday morning.