Several high-ranking officials -- current and former -- of the Little Rock Police Department admitted, under oath, shortcomings of detectives' investigation into the 2010 shooting death of a 67-year-old man by an off-duty officer, according to transcripts obtained by the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.
Former Little Rock Police Chief Stuart Thomas and Assistant Chief Wayne Bewley conceded in sworn depositions that the department likely failed to adequately scrutinize Eugene Ellison's autopsy report and officer Donna Lesher's account of the shooting.
At issue was the trajectory of the two bullets that struck Ellison's chest Dec. 9, 2010. Both bullets entered his chest and traveled at downward angles into his spine and lower back, according to the autopsy report.
The angles appear to contradict Lesher's statements that Ellison was standing upright when she shot him, according to an expert on accident reconstruction who was consulted by Ellison's family.
[READ: Letter requests new investigation into 2010 shooting death of Eugene Ellison]
Investigators never challenged the discrepancy.
"He was not standing upright when he was shot, correct?" Michael Laux, an attorney for Ellison's family, asked Thomas in an August deposition.
"No, it does not appear so," Thomas said while looking at the autopsy report. He then affirmed that Lesher claimed Ellison was standing upright at the time of the shooting.
"It's -- it is an element that should have been considered, yes," Thomas replied to Laux's next question about whether that would matter when ruling a shooting justified.
The depositions, which were obtained by the newspaper, were attached to a letter Laux sent Friday to Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Larry Jegley. In the letter, Laux asked Jegley to open a new criminal investigation into the nearly 6-year-old case.
Jegley on Friday declined to comment on the matter.
[DEPOSITIONS: Little Rock police officials on the investigation into Ellison's death]
Ellison's family in May settled a lawsuit with the city of Little Rock in federal court for $900,000. The family also received an official apology from the city and a memorial bench bearing Ellison's name. The settlement was billed by Laux as the "largest police brutality settlement in the history of Little Rock."
The sworn statements come from depositions in a separate federal court case brought on behalf of the mother of Bobby Moore, a 15-year-old boy killed by Little Rock police officer Josh Hastings in 2012. Laux also represents Moore's family.
On the night of Ellison's death, Lesher was working as an off-duty security guard at the Big Country Chateau apartment complex, 6200 Colonel Glenn Road. She and another off-duty officer working at the apartments, Tabitha McCrillis, encountered Ellison after noticing an open door on the complex's second floor, according to a police report.
The two officers went upstairs to investigate because it was cold outside, they said. Inside, they found Ellison sitting on his couch near a broken glass-top table, they said.
Ellison asked the officers to leave after they asked if he was okay, the report said.
Lesher told detectives that Ellison attacked her and McCrillis, but that they broke free from Ellison after a close-up struggle involving pepper spray. While separated, Lesher drew her gun, and Ellison grabbed his cane, according to police accounts.
Lesher said she shot Ellison after he came at her "in an aggressive manner holding [the cane] like a baseball bat," according to her statement to police.
Lesher's account, which was supported by other officers who arrived at the scene during the struggle, has been disputed by Ellison's family.
The Police Department and Jegley's office cleared the officers of wrongdoing, but in a September deposition, Capt. Heath Helton, of the department's training division, said Lesher violated department policy when she fired from outside a dwelling to inside.
The U.S. Department of Justice also looked into the shooting, but federal prosecutors decided there wasn't enough evidence to meet the standard of proof needed for criminal charges in a civil-rights case.
Ellison's death led to widespread concern within the community about the Little Rock Police Department's handling of police shootings. Of chief concern was that Lesher was married to the sergeant over the homicide division, which investigated the shooting.
The department still investigates when an officer fires at a suspect, but the number of cases where officers used deadly force has dropped dramatically in recent years.
Bewley, the assistant chief, said in his August deposition that he planned to re-examine the evidence in Ellison's death after acknowledging that investigators should have looked more closely at the autopsy report. Then, he said, he would confer with current Police Chief Kenton Buckner as to whether it warranted a fresh look.
Buckner said in email Friday that there are no plans to reopen an investigation into Ellison's death. He did not answer a question about whether he and Bewley had discussed the case.
"LRPD has no intention of reopening the Ellison case," he said. "I am well aware of the painful past this has caused our entire community. With that said, our agency is focused on building stronger relationships with our community."
Laux hopes new revelations about the autopsy will spur authorities to give the case a second look.
"The discrepancy in the autopsy is the question; it's really the only question," he said. "And it's one they never asked."
Metro on 10/15/2016