Auburn police officer sentenced in 2019 killing of unarmed man

KENT — Former Auburn police Officer Jeffrey Nelson, the first cop in Washington to be convicted of murder for an on-duty killing during an arrest, was sentenced to 16 years and eight months in prison Thursday by a judge who concluded he was an “egotistical … dishonest” officer who “sought to hurt others.”

King County Superior Court Judge Nicole Gaines Phelps, in handing down a near-maximum sentence, said the testimony of defense witnesses — including Nelson’s police-officer wife — who urged leniency and said Nelson was a good man and an honest cop, did not square with evidence that showed Nelson used violence against people who disrespected or angered him.

That, prosecutors say, is what happened to 26-year-old Jesse Sarey, an unarmed homeless man who Nelson was convicted of assaulting and murdering during an attempt to arrest him outside an Auburn market on May 31, 2019.

King County prosecutors had sought the longest sentence possible under the state’s standard range in this case — 18 years and four months — for the murder of Sarey, arguing Nelson repeatedly violated the community’s trust in law enforcement in a career marked by violence against those who dared question his authority.

Phelps said she sentenced Nelson below the maximum Nelson could have received under the state’s sentencing guidelines because there was evidence Sarey resisted Nelson’s single-handed attempt to arrest him for disorderly conduct, leading to a “mutual combat” situation that ended when Nelson shot Sarey in the abdomen at point-blank range with his .45-caliber service weapon.

Evidence showed that after the first shot, Nelson had to clear a jam from his weapon and then he turned and shot Sarey again in the head as he lay slumped against an ice machine.

Nelson’s lawyers, citing a career of public service, had requested an “exceptional” low sentence of six years and six months of incarceration. Phelps rejected that motion, as well as an attempt by the defense to have the assault conviction thrown out over allegations he was being charged with two crimes for the same set of facts.

A jury convicted Nelson, 46, in June of second-degree murder and first-degree assault for shooting Sarey. The trial represented a number of firsts in Washington’s legal system, including the first conviction under new police accountability measures contained in 2019’s Initiative 940.

Emotional testimony

The courtroom benches behind Nelson were filled and included two Auburn police officials and Mayor Nancy Backus. Several Auburn officers testified that Nelson was an Army veteran and an exemplary cop who was compassionate and saved lives. They recounted stories of his generosity, including when he bought a homeless veteran a bus ticket home for Christmas.

Sarey’s foster mother, Elaine Simons, who has attended almost every hearing and court date, was joined by a cadre of police-reform activists, including families of others killed by police.

Emotional testimony was offered by Nelson’s wife, Auburn police Officer Natalie Mounts, who struggled through tears to explain to the court that “there are so many stories about Jeff helping others” and disputed that her husband of 11 years would ever hurt anyone.

“He dreamed of being a cop,” she said, adding when she first met him he was a bachelor with a cat “living on beer and gummy bears.” From jail, she said, he has reminded her to feed the neighborhood hummingbirds.

Nelson stared at the table and his hands, his face flushed and somber, as Mounts wept before the court.

Prosecutors contend that Nelson demanded respect on the streets and made examples of those who didn’t offer it. Sarey was one, but there were others, including an incident in 2014 where Nelson had been insulted by a group of men including 22-year-old Jon Winterhawk. Nelson was recorded saying, “I want to (expletive) them up. Do you want to (expletive) them up?” Nelson proceeded to shock Winterhawk with a Taser and choke him unconscious, according to court filings.

Auburn police Assistant Chief Sam Betz — who is responsible for officer discipline within the department — said Nelson was being “vilified” and said “he has a heart of service over self.” Despite the conviction, Betz said Nelson “is not a person who I believe would abuse his authority as a police officer.”

Phelps allowed the Auburn officers to testify but said she would have given their comments “more weight” if they had acknowledged the bad with the good. Instead, she noted Nelson was given awards for valor and the city used his image on police recruiting posters after he had been charged with murder.

High price of justice

The cost of the prosecution underscored the high price of justice in these cases: King County’s bill for the trial — which was delayed for nearly four years — has topped $4.4 million, with most of that going to the outside attorneys hired to handle the case, according to accounting provided by the county.

That figure does not include Nelson’s defense costs, which were picked up by insurance andthe Fraternal Order of Police, according to statements made at trial.

“You have to wonder how a smaller county could afford something like this,” noted King County Prosecuting Attorney Leesa Manion.

The state has tried to address some of the issues posed by these complex cases through the formation of a statewide Office of Independent Investigations, which eventually will investigate all law-enforcement-related deaths in Washington.

Prosecutions — the expensive part — will remain the job of county prosecutors, although there is a movement in Olympia to form a statewide office of independent prosecutions, which would take those cases to court and address concerns over costs and conflicts of interest that persist in the current system.

History of violence

According to testimony at his trial, Nelson ignored his training and moved to arrest Sarey by himself, resulting in a scuffle that ended when Nelson shot Sarey in the belly at point-blank range. Testimony and video showed that as Sarey slumped to the ground, Nelson cleared a malfunction in his handgun, looked around and then shot Sarey a second time in the head.

“As a community, we give our police officers great power,” wrote Patty Eakes, a special deputy prosecutor in a sentencing memorandum filed in King County Superior Court on Thursday. “We give them weapons. We give them the power to detain our fellow citizens, to use violence, and even to kill. And we trust that they will use those powers for good. We have to.”

Police mostly work alone, unsupervised, Eakes said, and “we have to trust that our police officers will use violence only when it is necessary. We have to trust that they will not kill unless there is no other reasonable alternative.”

Nelson, who joined the Auburn Police Department in 2009 after a 12-year stint in the Army, violated that trust, prosecutors allege.

In arguing for a lower sentence, Nelson’s attorneys said he has “dedicated over 20 years of his life to public service” and has, “on countless occasions, placed the lives of strangers above his own.”

“Nelson never wanted to be put in the position where he would feel compelled to use deadly force,” argued his legal team, attorneys Emma Scanlan, Kristen Murray and Timothy Leary, in a memo that contained letters of support from fellow law enforcement officers, neighbors and friends.

However, Eakes said the facts surrounding Sarey’s death — and Nelson’s controversial career as an Auburn police officer — demonstrated otherwise.

“Using unnecessary violence was nothing new for Nelson,” Eakes wrote, noting Phelps had already concluded during an earlier ruling that Nelson had a pattern of using violence “during routine and nonthreatening situations when someone showed him disrespect or failed to acknowledge his authority.”

Sarey was Nelson’s third fatal shooting as an Auburn officer. The city has paid about $6 million to settle claims against Nelson, including $4 million to Sarey’s family.

“He took the great powers our community gave him, but he scorned the responsibilities that came with it,” wrote Eakes with co-counsel Angelo Calfo, the outside attorneys hired by former King County Prosecuting Attorney Dan Satterberg to try the case.

Delays

Nelson has been in custody at the Maleng Regional Justice Center in Kent since his June conviction. His sentencing was delayed while defense attorneys sought a new trial and a new judge, motions that were turned aside last month by Phelps, who has presided over the case for years.

The case was interrupted by repeated delays, including the monthslong shutdown of the court system during the COVID pandemic. Pretrial litigation involved more than 400 motions and exhibits and 28 hearings over four years, some running for days. Jury selection took more than a month, and the trial lasted six weeks.

Nelson did not testify and presented no expert witnesses or significant defense at his trial. His attorneys argued that the state’s evidence, instead of proving guilt, showed Nelson was defending himself when he shot Sarey.

This story has been updated to clarify that Auburn police Officer Jeffrey Nelson was the first cop in Washington to be convicted of murder for an on-duty killing during an arrest.