A suburban Seattle police officer has been sentenced to just over 16 years in prison for the 2019 shooting death of a homeless man he was trying to arrest for disorderly conduct. This marks the first conviction under a Washington state law that made it easier to prosecute officers for on-duty killings.
The officer, Jeffrey Nelson, was found guilty of second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the death of Jesse Sarey. The judge sentenced Nelson to 16 1/2 years for the murder conviction and 6 1/2 years for assault, to be served concurrently.
