Suburban Seattle officer gets over 16 years in prison for fatally shooting a homeless man

Prosecutors asked the judge to sentence Nelson at the top end of the standard range for each count: 18 years in prison for the murder charge and 10 years for the assault, and run them concurrently.

“Doing so will reflect Nelson’s long history of violence towards the less powerful, the egregious nature of his conduct, his dishonesty, and the great damage he has caused in our community,” King County Special Prosecutor Patty Eakes said in a sentencing memo.

Nelson’s lawyers urged the judge to sentence him to the lowest possible range – six and a half years — arguing he served his community, was a valued member of his team “and on countless occasions, placed the lives of strangers above his own.”

“Officer Nelson chose a career in law enforcement because he was driven by his sense of duty to others,” lawyer Kristen Murray said in their sentencing memo. “He wanted to serve his community and did so for years, working to help people every day. That’s all gone now.”

The case was the second to go to trial since Washington voters in 2018 removed a standard that required prosecutors to prove an officer acted with malice — a standard no other state had. Now they must show the level of force was unreasonable or unnecessary. In December, jurors acquitted three Tacoma police officers in the 2020 death of Manuel Ellis.

Eakes had told the jury in her closing argument last June that Sarey died because Nelson chose to disregard his training. The shooting was “unnecessary, unreasonable and unjustified,” she said.

Sarey was the third person Nelson has killed in his law enforcement career. Jurors did not hear evidence about Nelson’s prior uses of deadly force.

Nelson killed Isaiah Obet in 2017. Obet was acting erratically and Nelson ordered his police dog to attack. He shot Obet in the torso and Obet fell to the ground. Nelson fired again, fatally shooting Obet in the head. Police said the officer’s life was in danger because Obet was high on drugs and had a knife. The city reached a settlement of $1.25 million with Obet’s family.

In 2011, Nelson fatally shot Brian Scaman, a Vietnam War veteran with mental issues and a history of felonies, after pulling Scaman’s vehicle over for a burned-out headlight. Scaman got out of his car with a knife and refused to drop it; Nelson shot him in the head. An inquest jury cleared Nelson of wrongdoing.

The City of Auburn settled a civil rights claim by Sarey’s family for $4 million and has paid nearly $2 million more to settle other litigation over Nelson’s actions as a police officer. Nelson remains on unpaid leave with the Auburn force.

A suburban Seattle police officer was sentenced to over 16 years in prison on Thursday in the 2019 shooting death of a 26-year-old homeless man he was trying to arrest for disorderly conduct outside a convenience store.

A King County jury found Auburn police Officer Jeffrey Nelson guilty last June of second-degree murder and first-degree assault for fatally shooting Jesse Sarey. It was the first conviction of an officer under a Washington state law that made it easier to prosecute law enforcement officers for on-duty killings.

Prosecutors said Nelson punched Sarey several times before shooting him in the abdomen. About three seconds later, Nelson shot Sarey in the forehead. Nelson had claimed Sarey tried to grab his gun and a knife, so he shot him in self-defense, but video showed Sarey was on the ground reclining away from Nelson after the first shot.

Martha Bellisle, The Associated Press

by Canadian Press

Suburban Seattle officer gets over 16 years in prison for fatally shooting a homeless man

What's Happening