First police officer facing murder charge in King County to go to trial, officials say

The trial date has been set for a police officer who is charged with murder in the shooting death of a 26-year-old, prosecutors said.

Jeffrey Nelson, who worked as an officer for the Auburn Police Department, was charged with second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the death of Jesse Sarey, of south King County, who was shot twice in 2019, according to King County Superior Court documents.

Nelson is the first officer ever to be charged with murder in King County, Casey McNerthney, a spokesperson for the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, told McClatchy News in an email.

His trial is scheduled to begin February 28.

Nelson responded to several calls about “a young man creating disturbances” who may have been under the influence of drugs or alcohol, or had a mental health issue, on May 31, 2019, prosecutors say. He and another officer responded to a call at a Dollar Tree but Nelson went alone to respond to other calls about the same individual at a nearby Walgreens.

When Nelson pulled up, he got out of his patrol car and approached Sarey, who was described as “breathing heavily, perspiring on his forehead, not blinking his eyes [with] nostrils flared” and fists clenched, according to documents.

After briefly speaking with Nelson, Sarey turned to walk away and dropped a bracelet from his pocket. Nelson went to pick up the bracelet and called Sarey back to retrieve it, telling him “he would be arrested if he continued to disrupt citizens.”

Sarey then jaywalked into traffic to another grocery store and Nelson followed in his patrol car, intending to arrest Sarey for disorderly conduct, a misdemeanor, prosecutors said. Despite calling for backup, Nelson chose to leave his car and approach Sarey again.

“Over the next 67 seconds, video from surrounding buildings captured the struggle between [Nelson] and [Sarey],” according to documents.

While Nelson’s dash camera was not positioned in the right spot to catch the confrontation, Nelson was wearing a microphone during the altercation, which a video editing expert matched to the surveillance footage from two nearby cameras.

The edited video showed Nelson walk up to Sarey while he was sitting on a sidewalk and tell him to put his hands behind his back, according to documents. Sarey did not comply and argued he hadn’t done anything wrong, prosecutors said.

Nelson forced Sarey to his feet and pushed his body into the glass window of the grocery store and tried to kick his legs out from under him to get him to comply, according to documents. Nelson failed to bring Sarey off his feet by “hip-throwing” him.

A witness is seen on video getting out of his car — which is directly in front of Nelson and Sarey — and encouraging Sarey to comply. Nelson had started punching Sarey in the face after it appears Sarey tried reaching for Nelson’s holstered gun, prosecutors say.

Nelson then pushed Sarey against a freezer box in front of the store. Seconds later, he reaches for his gun and fires one shot into Sarey’s torso, according to documents.

Sarey’s body immediately falls to the ground and Nelson, who was standing about seven feet away from Sarey, can be seen on video clearing a jammed round from his gun and reloading before firing a second shot into Sarey’s head, prosecutors said. The shots were separated by a little over 3 seconds.

Second-degree murder is a Class A felony in Washington and is punishable by up to life in prison or a maximum fine of $50,000, according to Black and Askerov Law, a Seattle firm. First-degree assault, also a Class A felony, carries the same maximum sentence, Blair and Kim Attorneys at Law said.

Prosecuting officers for deadly use of force in Washington became easier under Initiative 940, which was approved by voters in 2018, according to The Seattle Times.

“The intent of the people in enacting this act is to make our communities safer,” the initiative said. “This is accomplished by requiring law enforcement officers to obtain violence de-escalation and mental health training, so that officers will have greater skills to resolve conflicts without the use of physical or deadly force.”

This story was originally published June 4, 2021 at 10:02 AM with the headline "First police officer facing murder charge in King County to go to trial, officials say."