SEATTLE, WA – Former police officer Jeffrey Nelson was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison last Thursday, marking the first conviction under Washington State’s reformed law that lowers the threshold for prosecuting police officers who use deadly force, according to the New York Times.
The sentencing follows a June guilty verdict in which Nelson was convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree assault for fatally shooting Jesse Sarey, 26, in May 2019 outside Sunshine Grocery in Auburn.
Nelson had attempted, the Times wrote, to arrest Sarey for disorderly conduct when the shooting occurred. King County prosecutors charged Nelson in August 2020, over a year after the incident, according to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office.
This conviction is the first under Initiative 940, a measure overwhelmingly passed by Washington voters in 2018 to amend the state’s laws governing police use of deadly force.
The NY Times noted the initiative removed the requirement to prove malice in such cases, instead requiring jurors to assess whether an officer’s actions were “reasonable.”
“A King County jury found that Officer Nelson’s actions were not above the law,” Leesa Manion, the King County prosecuting attorney, said to the Times in a statement, adding, “We have always known how impactful this case is to the individuals involved and to the community as a whole.”
In an email to The New York Times, Emma Scanlan, a member of Nelson’s defense team, expressed regret over Sarey’s death but criticized the trial as being “marred by unprecedented and significant legal errors that deprived Officer Nelson of his constitutional rights.” The defense team plans to appeal the verdict.
Sarey’s death preceded other tragic losses for his family. Both his mother and brother passed away before the trial’s conclusion, noting Elaine Simons, a foster mother to Sarey and his brother, described the conviction as setting a vital precedent, showing “officers are not above the law,” she told The New York Times.
Officer Nelson has been on unpaid administrative leave since his conviction and remains under a formal review process, which resumed after the court proceedings.
The case is part of broader scrutiny of police accountability in Washington State, explained the NY Times, stating under Initiative 940, Nelson’s case was the second to proceed to trial.
In 2022, three Tacoma police officers were acquitted in the death of Manuel Ellis, a Black man who died in custody. Those officers later resigned, each receiving $500,000 settlements from the Tacoma Police Department, wrote the Times.
