Posted on 12/21/2023 4:57:31 PM PST by Uncle Miltie
TACOMA, Wash. — A jury acquitted three Tacoma police officers of all criminal charges in the March 2020 death of Manuel "Manny" Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man who was shocked tased, choked, beaten and hogtied with a spit hood placed over his head.
After more than three months and two mandatory restarts of jury deliberations, verdicts were delivered Thursday in the trial of Matthew Collins, 40, Christopher Burbank, 38, and Timothy Rankine, 34. Collins and Burbank, who are white, were facing first-degree manslaughter and second-degree murder charges. Rankine, who is Asian American, was charged with first-degree manslaughter.
Judge Bryan Chushcoff announced the jury determined the trio was found not guilty on all counts.
A gasp was heard from the gallery when the first not-guilty verdict was read. After all the verdicts were announced, the three officers shared hugs with each other and their lawyers.
Ellis' family immediately left the courtroom and spoke at a news conference.
"The not guilty verdict is further proof the system is broken, failing the very people it should be serving," the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability said in a statement.
Ellis was killed nearly three months before George Floyd was murdered in Minneapolis police custody, which sparked nationwide protests. Ellis' death also led to protests in the Pacific Northwest.
Ellis was walking home from a 7-Eleven with doughnuts on March 3, 2020, when there was a confrontation with Collins and Burbank of the Tacoma Police Department.
Prosecutors alleged the officers suddenly jumped out of their patrol car, knocking Ellis to the ground and tasing him multiple times to get him under control. According to prosecutors, Ellis was also pinned face-down on the ground, and Rankine said during his testimony that he put his knee into Ellis’ back to keep him down. Prosecutors told the jury Ellis pleaded for breath multiple times, though the officers said they couldn’t make out anything he was saying.
The Pierce County Medical Examiner ruled Ellis’ death a homicide caused by oxygen deprivation, but defense attorneys argued during the trial that Ellis died from a lethal amount of methamphetamine in his system and heart complications. They claimed the situation was so out of control, with Ellis struggling in a meth-induced psychosis, that the use of force was necessary. Defense attorneys pointed to Ellis having an enlarged heart and a lethal amount of meth in his system as major contributing factors to his death.
Jurors listened to more than two months of testimony from video experts, multiple eyewitnesses, medical experts, Ellis’ family and two of the accused officers. Doorbell surveillance video showed Ellis with his hands up in a surrender position as Burbank shot a Taser at his chest, then Collins wrapped an arm around his neck from behind. Video captured Ellis addressing the officers as "sir" as he told them he couldn't breathe, and one officer was heard responding, “Shut the (expletive) up, man.”
Collins and Rankine both testified during the trial, while Burbank opted not to. Collins said he lamented Ellis' death but would not have done anything differently. He also testified he did not hear Ellis say he could not breathe. Collins maintained Ellis started the confrontation with a violent act.
“The only response at that point that I could think of is, ‘If you can talk to me, you can still breathe,’” Rankine said in testimony.
Jury deliberations spanned multiple days, with the jury asking numerous questions of the court regarding if actions can become unlawful at any point during an encounter and if they could take into consideration the combined force used on a person collectively, even though the officers were charged individually.
One juror's family medical emergency and another's positive COVID-19 test forced jury deliberations to restart twice over the past few days.
This case is also the first test of a 5-year-old state law, Initiative 940, which changed the requirements needed to prove police officers criminally liable for shootings and other uses of force. The law now considers whether another officer acting reasonably in the same circumstances would have believed deadly force was necessary.
Washington Gov. Jay Inslee was asked about the trial and the potential for ensuing protests during an unrelated press conference on Dec. 13.
"Whatever this decision is, there will be passions on multiple sides, and we hope people can act respectfully and peacefully," Inslee said. "We hope that that'll be the case."
Cue the feds and their civil rights charges.
TACOMA, Wash. — Family of Manny Ellis poured into the streets following a Pierce County jury’s decision to acquit three Tacoma police officers charged in connection to the Black man’s death in 2020 while in their custody.
Ellis’ sister, Monét Carter-Mixon, led a group of people in the street yelling “no justice, no peace” over a microphone and calling the verdict systemic racism. The rally has closed down the intersection of 11th Street and Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Tacoma, which is adjacent to the Manny Ellis mural.
The family of Manny Ellis and members of the community rallied in Tacoma Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023, following a jury finding three officers not guilty in connection to the death of Manny Ellis in 2020. (KOMO)
The demonstrators also began chanting, “same story every time, being Black is not a crime.” Some nearby business owners were seen by KOMO News crews boarding things up as the group continued to rally outside.
The outrage comes after a jury acquitted three Tacoma police officers of all criminal charges in the March 2020 death of Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man who was shocked tased, choked, beaten and hogtied with a spit hood placed over his head.
After more than three months and two mandatory restarts of jury deliberations, verdicts were delivered Thursday in the trial of Matthew Collins, 40, Christopher Burbank, 38, and Timothy Rankine, 34. Collins and Burbank, who are white, were facing first-degree manslaughter and second-degree murder charges. Rankine, who is Asian American, was charged with first-degree manslaughter.
Judge Bryan Chushcoff announced the jury determined the trio was found not guilty on all counts.
A gasp was heard from the gallery when the first not-guilty verdict was read. After all the verdicts were announced, the three officers shared hugs with each other and their lawyers.
Ellis’ family immediately left the courtroom and took to the streets.
What was the violent act that the police say started the confrontation? The author doesn’t make that clear, instead implying Manny was just strolling down the sidewalk with his donuts, and saying he was on a doorbell type camera, as if he was on someone’s doorstep. Confusing article.
Understanding that all press in Western Washington are committed leftists, here’s a (probably biased) account:
Cue the riots and looting
You have a criminal justice system. If you choose to ignore that system and violently take to the streets, you are, by definition reverting to barbarism.
“Cue the riots and looting”
His “sister,” started that right after the verdict was read. Article says she took to the streets with a megaphone yelling no justice no peace. She can FOAD.
“the Black man’s death,” “33-year-old Black man,” “Collins and Burbank, who are white.”
Again, the capitalization only works one way.
The local news outlets are ecstatic. They want their own George Floyd / Burn Baby Burn. Good for ratings etc.
Defense digs into Manuel Ellis’ drug use at trial of Washington officers accused in man’s death
Ellis was killed by the actions of 3 cops. Being high on drugs and arguing with cops without any weapon is not justification for suffocating/killing a person. These cops are guilty of involuntary manslaughter, unless there are other facts that justify them suffocating Ellis.
A jury of their peers heard the evidence in a fair trial in a court of law. They are factually innocent of any crime. I’m sick of this the cops are always guilty and are just criminals with badges BS.
His methamphetamine load was classified as deadly.
Fairly sure that walking while in position of donuts is not a crime so why the police interaction?
That seems to have been left out of the story.
I am sure it was an oversight.
Sometimes, cops do wrong things. I’m happy that everyone got their day in court. Not having been on the jury, they found the police innocent. Fair enough. Next time, maybe guilty. Happy there are juries to decide such things.
I’m just making dinner about 10 blocks from where the protests are, and hoping we don’t get a riot.
A lethal amount is not a "contributing factor". Just like a bullet to the brain is not a contributing factor.
Lots of contradictory testimony on the interaction, found here:
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Manuel_Ellis
Background info per wikipedia FWIW. I don’t have time or desire to look up more info.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_of_Manuel_Ellis
I have a simple question as well-
“The video undercut the only public account of Ellis’s death until then, provided by the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department, that indicated Ellis, a 33-year-old Black man, was aggressive toward police and that officers hadn’t choked him or placed their weight on him in a hazardous way.”
Why did they lie about it?
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