Update on Attorney General’s Office review of Manuel Ellis’ death

OLYMPIA — The Attorney General’s Office is continuing its review of the Manuel Ellis case. Our review began in November. This review remains the top priority of our Criminal Justice Division.

On February 23, we shared the following: “Our office is continuing to interview witnesses, work with experts and review documents. While we cannot put a precise timeline on the completion of our review, we anticipate that the work of our experts, the witness interviews, and the obtaining and review of additional documents will be completed in the next six weeks (April 6). We will announce a decision soon after that work is completed, and provide our findings to the public.”

Since February 23, the Attorney General’s review team, employees, and experts collectively spent more than 600 hours working on this case. This work included, but is not limited to, interviewing witnesses, requesting and reviewing documents, conducting legal research, reviewing physical evidence and visiting the scene of the incident. The Attorney General’s Office continues to work with the Washington State Patrol, which handled the investigation after the Pierce County Sheriff’s Department.

As we said in our last update, we cannot put a precise timeline on the completion of our review. Our experts will require at least another 4-6 weeks to complete their work. We expect to announce a decision shortly after that work is completed, and provide our findings to the public.

We appreciate and understand that the Ellis family and many others have waited for a resolution to the investigation and a final charging decision. Our work, however, must be thorough. A premature decision would be a disservice to the interests of justice.

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The Office of the Attorney General is the chief legal office for the state of Washington with attorneys and staff in 27 divisions across the state providing legal services to roughly 200 state agencies, boards and commissions. Visit www.atg.wa.gov to learn more.

Media Contact:

Brionna Aho, Communications Director, (360) 753-2727; Brionna.aho@atg.wa.gov

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