SEATTLE, WA – Former police officer Jeffrey Nelson was sentenced to more than 16 years in prison last Thursday, marking the first conviction under Washington State’s reformed law that lowers the threshold for prosecuting police officers who use deadly force, according to the New York Times.

The prosecution of former Auburn police Officer Jeffrey Nelson took years and cost millions of dollars. A jury convicted him of killing 26-year-old Jesse Sarey.

Jesse Sarey’s foster mother, Elaine Simons, has waited for more than five years to see Auburn Police Officer Jeffrey Nelson held accountable for murdering Sarey in 2019.

After months of delays, Auburn police officer Jeffrey Nelson was sentenced for the 2019 murder of Jesse Sarey on Thursday. Nelson shot and killed Sarey outside of an Auburn grocery store in May of 2019.

Nelson was the first officer to be charged following new standards for officers was adopted in Initiative 940.