Attorneys deliver opening statements in trial of Tacoma officers charged with killing Manny Ellis

Opening statements from the prosecution and defense were scheduled for first thing Tuesday morning. However, before the attorneys began, they objected to information they saw as “inflammatory” in each other’s presentation slides.

Frustrated by the delay, Judge Bryan Chushcoff told attorneys they could no longer use PowerPoint presentations during opening statements.

Chushcoff previously instructed the attorneys not to use evidence exhibits during their opening statements without the agreement of opposing counsel.

Defense attorneys said they agreed to allow the prosecution to use an aerial photo of the crime scene. But upon review of the presentation on Monday, they said they found photos of Ellis with the words, “I can’t breathe,” information about applicable law in the case and other images.

Attorney General’s Office special prosecutor Patty Eakes responded that the state didn’t intend to instruct the jury on the law and that their presentation used one image of Ellis twice. She said some information in the slide deck came from the Tacoma Police Department manual, not state law.

“I think most of this is problematic,” Chushcoff told Eakes. “You can have your timeline and your aerial photographs.”

He added, “The pictures should go. The use of force slide should go.”

After Chushcoff ruled, Eakes objected to information in the presentation from officer Timothy Rankine’s defense attorneys. Chushcoff said photos of Rankine and an uncharged officer, transcripts of radio traffic and part of a statement from former Pierce County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Clark were improper.

About three dozen people, including relatives of Ellis and the officers, listened from the courtroom gallery. The jury remained out of the courtroom.

The prosecution's arguments

Assistant Attorney General Kent Liu’s opening statement detailed many of the prosecution’s graphic allegations from court papers while honing in on inconsistencies in the officers’ version of events and attempting to humanize Manny Ellis.

One of the contradictions Liu repeatedly noted was officers describing Ellis making “animalistic noises and growling” despite audio recordings of Ellis saying he couldn’t breathe.

Ellis was “a human being that loved his family. He was flawed. He struggled with addiction,” Liu said. “He was not an animal and he deserved the respect and the care that was not given to him when he died that night at the intersection of 96th and Ainsworth.”

In the hours before officers allegedly attacked, Tasered and hogtied Ellis, Liu said Ellis played the drums at church before calling multiple friends and his mother, then going on a snack run to 7-Eleven.

“We are here today because this should not have happened,” Liu said. “Mr. Ellis did nothing wrong.”

The defense's stance

Opening statements from defense attorneys focused on the threat Ellis allegedly presented to officers and their claims that he died of a drug overdose.

“He was aggressive, he was violent and he was extremely high on methamphetamine,” said Brett Purtzer, an attorney for Officer Christopher Burbank.

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“This was a meth overdose compounded by a bad heart that was enlarged, compromised lungs,” Anne Bremner, an attorney for Officer Timothy Rankine, told the jury.

The attorneys also distanced their clients from the decision by a fourth officer to use a spit hood, which then-Pierce County Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Clark said was a key factor in Ellis’ death. Clark also said Ellis could have died of an overdose, despite his ruling that he suffocated.

Bremner said Rankine, who arrived as backup, was trying to overcome Ellis’ “superhuman strength” to get him into restraints.

“He was never up on his neck. He was never in a place where he could restrict the breathing of Manuel Ellis,” Bremner said.

Judge Bryan Chushcoff sustained multiple objections against Bremner by the state after she attempted to claim the prosecution of the officers was politically motivated.

“This is a case that shouldn’t have been brought,” Bremner said before concluding her opening remarks.

Attorneys for Officer Matthew Collins waived their opening statement until after the prosecution rests. Prosecutors have said they expect to put on their case in about four weeks.

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story originally appeared here on knkx.org.