A jury had found Auburn police officer Jeffrey Nelson guilty June 27 of second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the death of Jesse Sarey.
A suburban Seattle police officer was sentenced Thursday to over 16 years in prison for the 2019 shooting death of a homeless man he was trying to arrest for disorderly conduct, marking the first conviction under a Washington state law that made it easier to prosecute officers for on-duty killings.
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A jury found Auburn police officer Jeffrey Nelson guilty June 27 of second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the death of Jesse Sarey.
King County Superior Court Judge Nicole Gaines Phelps sentenced Nelson to just over 16½ years for the murder conviction and 6½ years for assault, to be served concurrently.
Before sentencing Nelson at the high end of the standard range, Phelps chastised the 46-year-old officer for his violent behaviour in uniform.
“Respect for the law, here, goes more beyond you, officer Nelson,” Phelps said. “This is the first case in which a police officer was charged and it in some ways serves as a telescope for others to view police conduct and for police to remember to abide by their training when engaging in situations so that they do not become lethal to them or to others they are sworn to protect and serve.”
Nelson, seated in a packed courtroom in a red short-sleeve jail uniform, his arms covered in tattoos and his hair cut short, showed no emotion as the judge spoke. His wife and other Auburn police officers sat behind him in his support, while Sarey’s friends and family filled the other side of the courtroom.
Prosecutors had said at trial in June that Nelson punched Sarey several times before shooting him in the abdomen. 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-defence, but video showed Sarey was on his back with his head positioned away from Nelson after the first shot.
King County special prosecutor Patty Eakes, citing Nelson’s long history of violence and disregard for his training, asked the judge to sentence him at the higher end of the standard range: 18 years for murder and 10 for the assault conviction.
“What was Jesse Sarey doing? Sitting outside of a grocery store drinking from discarded cups,” Eakes said. “He had other tools other than pulling out his gun and shooting an unarmed person in the stomach.”
Sarey’s family, including two brothers and a former foster sister, told the judge that his violent death by a police officer crushed their family, and they’re happy to see Nelson held accountable.
“Six years in the making to see justice not only for Jesse but for all impacted families in Washington state,” said Elaine Simmons, Sarey’s foster mother, after sentencing.
King County prosecuting attorney Leesa Manion hailed the sentence as showing Nelson’s actions “were not above the law.”
“The sentence reflects the very serious nature of Jeffrey Nelson’s crimes,” her statement said, noting it was the first time an officer has been tried, convicted and sentenced under the Washington state law that made it easier to prosecutor officers for killings while on duty.
Nelson lawyer Emma Scanlan said the defence will appeal.
“Our deepest sympathies go to his family,” she said in an email. “However, this trial was marred by unprecedented and significant legal errors that deprived officer Nelson of his constitutional rights. When police officers are charged with crimes they deserve to be treated fairly just like everyone else.”
It was the second case tried 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.
Nelson’s lawyers had recommended the lowest possible range — 6½ years — arguing he had served his community “on countless occasions, placed the lives of strangers above his own.”
Nelson’s wife, Natalie Mounts, told the judge he was kind to others and his family needed him.
“He has a heart of service and a need to take care of people,” Mounts said. “Jeff and I are very sorry for the loss suffered by the Sarey family.”
An Auburn police assistant chief and commander also spoke of Nelson’s generosity and work ethic, but Phelps rebuked them for failing to acknowledge trial evidence showing Nelson’s propensity toward violence and lying to cover it up.
“That tells me that the Auburn police department will stand by anyone and everyone as long as they have a badge,” she said.
If you want to test a man’s character, she said, give him power.
“In this situation, I would add give him power, a badge and a gun,” she said. “Character is who you are when no one is looking. When officer Nelson thought that no one was looking … he took the opportunity to harm others.”
Sarey was the third person Nelson killed while on duty.
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 then the head after he fell to the ground. The police said Nelson’s life was in danger because Obet was high on drugs and had a knife. The city settled with Obet’s family for US$1.25 million.
In 2011, Nelson fatally shot Brian Scaman, a Vietnam War veteran with mental issues and a history of felonies who pulled out a knife and refused to drop it after Nelson stopped him for a burned-out headlight. Nelson shot him in the head. An inquest jury cleared Nelson of wrongdoing.
The City of Auburn settled with Sarey’s family for $4 million and has paid nearly $2 million more to settle other litigation over Nelson’s actions as an officer. Nelson remains on unpaid leave.
Before sentencing, Nelson’s lawyer Kristen Murray asked the judge to throw out the assault charge as constituting double jeopardy. But the judge let both counts stand, saying jurors recognized that two shots fired seconds apart — after Nelson’s gun jammed and he cleared it — as separate actions.