Fate of Tacoma officers charged in death of Manuel Ellis now in jury’s hands

TACOMA, Wash. — The fate of three Tacoma Police officers charged in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis is now in the hands of the jury.

Deliberations began Thursday morning.

Ellis died in police custody, and jurors will decide if the officers are responsible.

We are now two-and-a-half months into the trial of officers Christopher Burbank, Matthew Collins and Timothy Rankin.

The jury heard from the final defense attorney, and once more from the prosecution on Wednesday.

Here’s part of what the prosecution had to say.

“He didn’t deserve to have the basic thing he was asking for from these officers — to please let him breathe...to have that be ignored repeatedly and do nothing to help him after he said that over and over and over again is reckless conduct,” said Patty Eakes.

There could be several days of jurors trying to decide the charges against each officer.

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