'You're the reason why my son is dead,' Iowa father tells Missouri trooper

VERSAILLES, Mo. — Three years, three months and nine days after his 20-year-old son drowned while in police custody, Craig Ellingson stepped into a Missouri courtroom Tuesday afternoon for the sentencing hearing of Missouri State Trooper Anthony Piercy.

Piercy, 46, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor boating violation in June, avoiding a trial for involuntary manslaughter.

He was sentenced to 10 days in jail, two years of supervised probation and 50 hours community service. Piercy will serve his jail time in 48-hour increments, with his first stint beginning Friday.

He will keep his law enforcement certificate, opening the door for him to return to active duty with the Missouri State Highway Patrol.

Craig Ellingson called the jail time "a vacation" and the sentence "a joke." He said before Tuesday's hearing that he wanted Piercy prevented from working as a law enforcement officer.

Ellingson's attorney requested that the judge revoke Piercy's certificate as part of the hearing, but Missouri Circuit Court Judge Roger Prokes said it wasn't his place to make that decision.

William Seay, a special prosecutor in the case, said the state's Department of Public Safety is responsible for granting and revoking law enforcement certificates.

Missouri State Patrol Lt. Paul Reinsch wrote in an email after the hearing that Piercy remains on "extended leave without pay."

"Now that the criminal case has been adjudicated, this is a personnel matter," Reinsch wrote.

Craig Ellingson, who said he attended 35 depositions and all but two of the hearings in his son's case, read a 23-minute statement before the courtroom.

It detailed Brandon's life from the day he was born, "instantly smiling and holding (his father's) index finger," to wondering what his son's last thoughts might have been as he sank to the bottom of the Lake of the Ozarks.

"Anthony Piercy, it has been three-and-a-half years that I waited to tell you face-to-face that you're the reason why my son is dead," Ellingson said, pausing to stare at the state trooper. "I will forever hold you responsible."

Several members of the Ellingson family, including Brandon's grandmother, Gloria, sat in the front row of the courtroom.

Related links:

Records: Missouri Trooper provided little water training

Brandon Ellingson's drowning ruled accident

911 calls show selective release of information on Ellingson's drowning

Missing blood results latest mystery in Ellingson death

Piercy, who had not spoken publicly since September 2014, offered a 34-second statement after Ellingson spoke. He wore a pressed white shirt and thick-rimmed black glasses and looked straight at Ellingson during the entirety of his testimony.

He read:

"I would like to apologize for the loss I've caused the Ellingson family. I know that nothing I will say will ease the pain or the guilt. I will never forget that I'm the cause of that pain. I am truly sorry for that. Brandon should be here with them today. Thank you."

The sentencing ends years of legal wrangling over Brandon Ellingson's death on the Lake of the Ozarks in May 2014.

Piercy had detained Ellingson on suspicion of boating while intoxicated and was transporting him from the lake when Ellingson went into the water. Ellingson's hands were cuffed behind his back and a life jacket was pulled over his shoulders.

The trooper's boat hit speeds of 40 mph and witnesses testified that the life jacket, which was not fastened under Ellingson's arms, came off as he entered the lake.

"If only you would have put the safety strap between his crotch, Brandon would be here," Craig Ellingson said.

After pleading guilty to negligent operation of a vessel, Piercy faced a maximum sentence of six months in jail and a $500 fine.

"At least he admitted guilt to it. He knows he did wrong," Craig Ellingson told a Register reporter the day before the sentencing hearing. "But the thing is, he drug our family through the mud for three-and-a-half years He should have admitted it up-front and not been a coward and put us through all this."

Ellingson's death and the information that emerged about the investigation drew widespread criticism. U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley said the case inspired his support for legislation to require federal reporting of all deaths that happen while people are in police custody.

That bill became law in December of 2014. Grassley's office did not have a statement Tuesday.

Missouri authorities stayed silent for weeks about the circumstances surrounding the drowning. Four months after Ellingson died, Morgan County coroner M.B. Jones, who is also the local veterinarian, held an inquest.

Jones told a jury that Ellingson had a blood-alcohol content of 0.268 at the time of his death, more than three times the legal limit for operating a boat. A blood sample reportedly found traces of cocaine in his system, though the Ellingson family disputes these findings.

It took the six-member jury less than eight minutes to rule Brandon's death was an accident. Osage County Prosecutor Amanda Grellner later confirmed the jury's decision and declined to press criminal charges against Piercy. She later removed herself from a review of the case.

In the many months afterward, details of the dysfunctional investigation into Ellingson's death began to accumulate, revealing larger problems at the Missouri State Patrol.

In November 2014, the Register reported that results from one of the two blood tests taken from Ellingson's body was missing.

The Kansas City Star reported that a 2011 merger between the Missouri Water Patrol and Highway Patrol had significantly cut the amount of field training that troopers were required to complete before getting on the water. Missouri lawmakers formed a committee to investigate the merger, calling many key players from the Ellingson case to testify at the state Capitol.

Dispatch recordings obtained by the Register in December 2014 showed officials had selectively released information about Ellingson's death. In one recording, the dispatcher laughed after a commander said the dive team search had been called off and Ellingson's body would be left on the lake bed overnight.

In 2015, a special prosecutor charged Piercy with involuntary manslaughter, a felony that carries a punishment of up to seven years in prison. A trial was initially scheduled for May 2016, but multiple delays pushed back the start date before Piercy's guilty plea to the lesser charge in June.

Craig and Sherry Ellingson filed a civil lawsuit against the Missouri State Highway Patrol in December 2014, contending that the actions and inactions of Piercy led to their son's death. The family accepted a $9 million settlement in November.

The Ellingsons also sued the Missouri Highway Patrol for violating the state's open records laws. A judge fined the agency $5,000, ruling it knowingly and purposely withheld or delayed the release of information to the family.

Before delivering Piercy's sentence, Judge Prokes expressed sympathy to the Ellingson family on behalf of the state of Missouri.

Prokes said he lay awake the night before the sentencing thinking about his two sons and listening to his wife's breathing.

"If that breathing stopped, what would it feel like? I can't fathom," he said.

Piercy's attorney, Shane Farrow, told the judge his client has no criminal record, was elected to the local school board and did volunteer work around town. He has worked for the Missouri State Highway Patrol since 1996.

"He spent his life enforcing the law, not breaking it," Farrow said.

Kathie Blomberg, a Morgan County woman, said she attended the hearing to show support for the Ellingsons. Blomberg said she's known Piercy since childhood.

"I am embarrassed of my county, of my state, of my town," she said.

Theresa Townsend, of Hurricane Deck in neighboring Camden County, turned her back to Piercy when he sat next to her before the hearing. She said she followed coverage of the case and attended Tuesday's hearing to stand with the Ellingsons.

"I've watched as grown men who held the public trust lie, do their best to escape accountability, and that's all anybody has ever asked in this case," Townsend said.

After years of fighting, Craig Ellingson said he forgives Piercy, but he is still bitter.

His son, a student at Arizona State University, had gathered with friends on the lake the day he died for a final get-together before leaving for a study abroad program.

Brandon Ellingson was the captain of the 2011 state championship football team at Valley High School, where he earned a 4.0 GPA, according to the Ellingsons.

Craig Ellingson sold the family's lake home after his son's death but has since bought a vacation condo. He's hoping Tuesday will be the last time he sets foot in Versailles, Missouri.

"Someday that old Piercy and those crumbs who did all that (expletive) will pay the price when they’re judged by God," he said.