Trial begins for Auburn officer accused of killing man in 2019

Auburn officer to stand trial for 2019 murder

The trial of an Auburn police officer accused of murder is set to begin Thursday.

AUBURN, Wash. - After nearly five years and countless delays, an Auburn police officer will finally be in court for opening statements in his murder trial.

Jeffrey Nelson is accused of shooting and killing 26-year-old Jesse Sarey outside a convenience store in 2019. Nelson was trying to arrest Sarey for disorderly conduct in an interaction that lasted just 67 seconds.

Nelson, an Iraq war veteran who joined the department in 2008, is the first police officer charged with murder and assault in Washington state under voter-approved Initiative 940, which makes it easier to prosecute police for using deadly force.

Auburn police officer Jeff Nelson

Then King County Prosecutor Dan Satterberg said that Nelson escalated the situation with Sarey, failed to wait for backup before confronting him, and that the level of force he used was unreasonable: Nelson repeatedly punched Sarey in the head after grappling with him, shot him once in the upper abdomen and then, as the wounded Sarey reclined on the ground about 7 feet away, Nelson cleared a jammed round out of his gun, glanced at a nearby witness, turned back to Sarey and fired again into Sarey’s forehead.

Sarey reached for Nelson’s gun at one point in the struggle, but there was no indication he was armed when Nelson shot him — contrary to statements Nelson made afterward in which he said Sarey had grabbed a utility knife from Nelson’s pocket, prosecutors wrote in charging documents filed in King County Superior Court. Nelson also claimed Sarey was kneeling and in position to attack when he fired the second shot — a claim disproved by video evidence and a witness statement, prosecutors said.

Jesse Sarey, photo courtesy King County Prosecuting Attorney's Office

After shooting him, Nelson knelt on the sidewalk beside Sarey without rendering first aid, prosecutors wrote. Backup officers who arrived two minutes later were able to restore Sarey’s pulse, but he died at a hospital. Sarey was found to have methamphetamine in his system.