By Staff
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY

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.
Now, Simons and Sarey’s remaining family, including Sarey’s brother Kolton, will attend Nelson’s sentencing on Thursday, Jan. 23, at the Maleng Regional Justice Center.
“This conviction sets precedent in Washington state and gives hope to other impacted families of police sanctioned violence,” Simons said in a press release before the sentencing. “Nelson committed a horrific act of violence against Jesse and the community. Mr. Nelson robbed his family and the world of this incredible human. He’s a public servant and should be held accountable to a higher standard. I am asking for consecutive sentencing for both charges.”
In June 2024, Nelson was found guilty and convicted of second-degree murder and first-degree assault. He was the first Washington police officer to be found guilty under a new state standard, Initiative 940 (I-940).
Sarey was 26 years old when Nelson killed him. Sarey’s mother, Nga Kari Sarey, a Cambodian survivor of the Khmer Rouge, immigrated to the United States in the 1980s. Both Sarey’s mother and brother Torell died, before being able to attend Nelson’s criminal trial in 2024.
Several other advocacy groups who have been working with Simons and Sarey’s remaining family will also be in attendance at Thursday’s trial, including the Khmer Advocacy and Advancement Group (KhAAG) and members of the I-940 Campaign De-Escalate Washington.
“To me, the verdict means that the system is finally starting to recognize what we have all known all along. We, as Khmer people, are not disposable, we are not just casualties of war in a distant land from the past,” Savannah Kong Son, campaign coordinator with KhAAG, said in the press release. “We deserve dignity and compassion and justice. And in a truly just world, Jesse Sarey would have never been murdered in the first place.”
Kathleen Keliikoa-Strickland, the mother of E.J. Strickland, who died at the hands of Auburn Officer Kenneth Lyman, and who will also be present at the sentencing, said that the “decision has definitely made me rethink my decision to keep fighting for justice for the shooting death of my son. It has given me a sliver of strength and I hope this decision gives other families hope and strength, too, to keep fighting for their loved ones.”
In 2018, Washington state voters passed I-940. The initiative took effect Dec. 6, 2018.
“Prosecutors need to take seriously the whole picture from 940,” said Leslie Cushman, the citizen sponsor of I-940. “During the trial, we heard about training for de-escalation and crisis intervention, and whether deadly force was necessary. Not whether it was reasonable, but was it necessary. This is what the voters put in place and it is time for prosecutors in all 39 counties to follow the law.”
“We are fortunate to have voters in Washington state who believe in professional and accountable police,” said Sonia Joseph, mother of Giovonn Joseph McDade, who was killed by Kent Police on June 24, 2017. Joseph serves as chair for the Washington Coalition for Police Accountability, and serves as a commissioner on the Criminal Justice Training Commission.
“Their support for I-940 and for the measures passed by the legislature in 2021 is what we need for community safety,” Joseph continued. “We expect police to follow the laws, and when they don’t, they should face the same repercussions as anyone else. Families will continue to push for additional state wide measures that create a solid framework for quality policing in Washington state.”