A Seattle-area cop found guilty of murder won’t get a retrial, a King County Superior Court judge ruled on Friday. Auburn police officer Jeffrey Nelson, 46, was convicted in June of second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the 2019 killing of 26-year-old Jesse Sarey.
Following his conviction, Nelson’s attorneys requested a new trial based on several procedural concerns during his first trial.
Nelson was the first officer in Washington state to be charged and convicted under a new legal standard for holding cops who use deadly force accountable. Initiative 940 removed the standard of proving an officer acted with “malice” to prosecute cops who kill while on duty. His trial was marked by several delays, taking place four years after he was charged and five years after Sarey’s death.
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Nelson shot Sarey twice — once in the head and once fatally in the abdomen — in the parking lot of the Sunshine Grocery in Auburn as he responded to a call about Sarey behaving erratically on the premises of several businesses. Nelson’s two convictions reflect each shot.