Jeffrey Nelson (photo, left)
, 43, a violent police officer in Auburn, Washington, who allegedly sports fascist tattoos, has a history of using excessive force in arrests, and has killed 3 people during his 12-year career, is being prosecuted for murder.
Prosecutors argue Nelson has a propensity to use deadly force.
The Seattle Times says he killed Jesse Sarey, 26, outside a grocery store in Auburn while responding to a call about “a man throwing garbage at cars, banging on windows and kicking walls outside of businesses in the area.”
While trying to arrest Sarey for disorderly conduct, “Nelson punched and grappled with Sarey, then shot him once in the abdomen, charging papers say. Then, after Sarey fell to the ground, Nelson’s gun jammed, so he cleared the slide and shot Sarey a second time in the forehead, 3.4 seconds after firing the first shot, the charges say,” the newspaper reported.
Prosecutors now want to photograph Nelson’s tattoos to show his state of mind and intent in killing Sarey. Nelson’s lawyers objected, arguing his state of mind was irrelevant, but the judge overruled them and allowed the pictures to be taken.
Look, as a general rule, if someone is gut-shot and not fighting anymore, and you put a bullet in his head at point-blank range, it’s gonna look like you murdered him. But Nelson is entitled to a presumption of legal innocence, and isn’t guilty until he’s convicted in a court of law.
Meanwhile, while the courts work to resolve that issue, I’m wondering if maybe he slept through briefings on a new Washington law, passed by voters in 2018 as an initiative, that puts more restrictions on police use of force and makes it easier to prosecute violent cops.
Also, the city having previously paid a $1.25 million settlement to the family of another man he killed, why was he still a cop?