Dr. Thomas Clark is the one who ruled Manuel Ellis' death a homicide. A section of his report is also the foundation for the defense's case.
Clark was the Pierce County medical examiner at the time that Ellis died, performed the autopsy on Ellis' body and made the official ruling on Ellis' cause of death.
Clark wrote:"It is unlikely that this death would have occurred due to physical restraint alone, without the contributing conditions. An argument could be made that the extremely high methamphetamine concentration should be considered the primary factor." Burbank and Collins are charged with second-degree murder and first-degree manslaughter. Rankine is charged with first-degree manslaughter. At the end of the case, jurors will be responsible for deciding which expert testimony to factor into their final decision - a difficult task when multiple medical experts are expected to contradict each other on the stand.
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