Two former Tacoma police officers acquitted in the in-custody death of Manuel Ellis have asked a Pierce County judge to decide whether the state of Washington owes them for the cost of their legal defense.
Attorneys for a third officer charged and acquitted in Ellis’ March 3, 2020 death, Timothy Rankine, are reviewing the motion filed Friday, according to one of his lawyers. A hearing has been set for March 8.
If Matthew Collins, Christopher Burbank and Rankine are granted the request, it could mean hundreds of thousands — if not millions — of more dollars would be paid out to the former officers. The three received $500,000 each as part of an agreement to resign from the Tacoma Police Department last month, and they collectively were paid more than $1 million while employed on leave for the duration of the criminal case.
Casey Arbenz, an attorney for Collins, told The News Tribune he hadn’t tallied the full cost of his client’s defense but that it was “well over” $1 million and approaching $2 million. Brett Purtzer, an attorney for Burbank, who joined Collins’ motion, estimated that the former officer’s defense costs amounted to hundreds of thousands of dollars.