Seattle police officer set to be sentenced for 2019 shooting death of a homeless man
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A suburban Seattle police officer is set to be sentenced Thursday for 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 on June 27 of second-degree murder and first-degree assault for fatally shooting Jesse Sarey, marking the first conviction under a Washington state law that made it easier to prosecute law enforcement officers for on-duty killings.
Prosecutors plan to ask 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, according to their sentencing memorandum filed with the court.
“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 the memo.
Nelson's lawyers plan to urge 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.”.
