Jury seated in trial of Tacoma officers charged with killing Manny Ellis

Jared Brown / KNKX

October 02, 2023 / 10:04 pm

caption: 'Say His Name! Manuel Ellis,' reads a sign during a silent march of about 200 people honoring 33-year-old Manuel Ellis roughly one year after he was killed by Tacoma police officers on Sunday, February 28, 2021, along Martin Luther King Jr. Way in Tacoma.

What you need to know

The trial, a test of Washington state's police accountability law, began Sept. 18 in Tacoma, Wash. Opening statements are scheduled for Tuesday morning.
Attorneys questioned more than 130 potential jurors about their views on law enforcement and racism, as well as their opinions on the case. The jury was seated Monday.
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.
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.

Here’s what we know about the final 12 jurors, 4 alternates

A jury was seated Monday in the trial of Tacoma Police Officers Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank, and Timothy Rankine.

The officers are charged with killing Manny Ellis, a Black man, in March 2020. Collins and Burbank, who are white, and Rankine, who is Asian American, have pleaded not guilty to murder and manslaughter charges.

Over the past two weeks, attorneys intensively questioned more than 130 people about their views on race, policing, and social movements.

Race has been a central question in the case, drawing comparisons to the death of George Floyd. During jury selection, prosecutors told the judge they were concerned about the jury pool's lack of racial diversity.

Here's what we know about the jurors, and their apparent race, from the jury selection process.

The 12 jurors include:

White man who is retired. He worked as an animal control officer for three decades and served in the Navy for more than four years.
Asian American man who works in finance and wealth management.
Black man who previously worked as a loss prevention officer in Tacoma’s Hilltop.
White woman.
White man who works in aerospace.
White woman who is in executive leadership at her company.
White woman who works as an accounting supervisor for a health care company.
White man who works as a teacher for a small private school.
White man who is a construction manager, electrician, and military veteran.
Black woman who works as a pharmacy technician. Her husband is a pastor in Tacoma.
White man who was a former U.S. Army scout stationed in Korea.
White man who avoids the news and doesn’t support Black Lives Matter or Blue Lives Matter movements.

The four alternate jurors are:

A multiracial woman who works as a minister in Graham and generally supports police.
A white woman who was called to jury duty for the first time on this case.
White man who at one time wanted to be a police officer but wanted to make more money.
A white man who works as a civilian family medicine doctor and trains residents at Madigan Army Medical Center.

The officers are accused of unlawfully beating, Tasering, choking and restraining Ellis to the point he suffocated. Defense attorneys say Ellis attacked the officers and died of a drug overdose.

During the trial, jurors can't discuss the trial with anyone, watch the news, or go on social media.

Opening statements are scheduled for Tuesday morning. The trial is projected to run into December.

This story originally appeared on knkx.org.

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