AUBURN, Wash. — The trial of an Auburn police officer accused of murder began on Thursday, May 16, with opening statements.
Officer Jeffrey Nelson is accused of killing Jesse Sarey in May 2019 during an attempted arrest for disorderly conduct outside of an Auburn grocery store. He's the first officer charged, and the second to be tried, under a new legal standard for police in Washington state.
Nelson pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree murder and first-degree assault.
First thing Thursday morning, the court was told one of the jurors was Facebook friends with one of the witnesses, and they had exchanged messages online in the past, unrelated to the trial. Since that had not been disclosed early on, the juror was dismissed.
During opening statements, the prosecution laid out their case in front of the jury, alleging that Nelson knowingly violated his police training when he approached Sarey and also knowingly and improperly used force when he shot Sarey, once in the abdomen and once in the head.
Prosecutors plan to call two witnesses who saw the fight between Nelson and Sarey and told investigators that they never saw Sarey gain control of Nelson's knife or gun, or even hit Nelson. One witness reported that it appeared that Nelson had Sarey under control when he fired the first shot into Sarey's abdomen and that Nelson fired the second shot, which hit Sarey in the head, while Sarey was lying on the ground.
The incident
On the night that Sarey died, Nelson responded to multiple 911 calls to report that a young man, later identified as Sarey, was throwing items and kicking walls and vehicles outside of Auburn businesses, documents state. Nelson contacted Sarey outside of Walgreens and believed he was on drugs, according to documents.
After a brief interaction, Sarey jaywalked through traffic across the street to the Sunshine Grocery. Court documents state that, because of Sarey’s behavior, Nelson followed him across the street in his patrol vehicle intending to arrest him for disorderly conduct.
Nelson reportedly called for backup but attempted to arrest Sarey by himself.
In the following 67 seconds, surveillance video captured a fatal struggle between Nelson and Sarey. The interaction was also captured on audio recording.
Sarey was sitting near the grocery store entrance when Nelson approached him and said he was under arrest. When Sarey did not immediately respond or put his hands behind his back, Nelson pulled Sarey to his feet and held him against a window, according to charging documents.
Nelson attempted to use a "hip throw" maneuver and knock Sarey's leg out from under him but was unsuccessful. The two continued to struggle and a witness in a nearby car got out when he reportedly saw Sarey reach for Nelson's holstered gun, documents state.
Video showed Nelson punching Sarey multiple times and pushing him up against a nearby freezer box. As they struggled, the witness picked up a closed folding knife that fell to the ground and put it on the hood of his car, documents state.
Nelson drew his gun and reportedly shot Sarey in the torso, who fell to the ground, according to charging documents.
Standing a few feet away from Sarey, Nelson cleared his jammed gun and "looked up at [the witness], looked back at Mr. Sarey, and then aimed and fired his gun at Mr. Sarey" shooting him in the head, documents state.
During opening statements on Thursday, Nelson's attorney, Emma Scanlan, said after the knife fell to the ground, Scanlan said Nelson didn't see the witness move it. So, the officer believed Sarey had the knife and shot him.
State prosecutors say Sarey was never armed.
"The evidence is going to show that the defendant shot and killed Mr. Sarey without justification,” said state prosecuting attorney Angelo Calfo.
Sarey was a Cambodian American man experiencing homelessness, according to prosecutors and his family. A toxicology report said Sarey's blood tested positive for methamphetamine shortly after the shooting.
Sarey was unarmed during the May 2019 incident. His family said he was having a mental health crisis at the time.
Nelson provided his statement about the incident to investigators a month after the fatal shooting. Nelson alleged he saw Sarey holding the pocket knife with the blade visible and believed he was going to be stabbed, documents state. However, video experts said Nelson's statement is untrue because the knife was retrieved by the witness and placed away from the two men.
Nelson fatally shot two other people — Isaiah Obet in June 2017 and Brian Scaman in May 2011 — during his career as an Auburn police officer. The City of Auburn settled a civil lawsuit with Obet's family for $1.25 million.
Sarey's family members said the trial has been a long time coming, set back by frequent delays.
In October, Elaine Simons, Sarey's foster mother. spoke to KING 5. She said since Sarey's death, his brother and biological mother have died and that they did not get to see any kind of justice.
"We’re ready," Simons previously said about the trial, before another delay pushed it to this month. "We’re ready to go to trial and this delay has just been hard on our family."