Juror #9: A Holdout in the State of Washington v. Officer Jeffrey Nelson Trial

  “I am usually very agreeable, but I can’t do that here. This case against Officer Nelson just isn’t beyond a reasonable doubt.” Juror #2   The entire weekend following that first day of deliberations—especially after dodging the angry mob we’d inadvertently encountered that Friday evening—was filled with anxiety. I could barely sleep, toiling over our deliberations, so certain of my not-guilty vote on count one, yet only two others shared that view with me at this point. Additionally, the scene in the rotunda that evening left me panicked about what fallout might come from our decision in this case. It suddenly became viscerally clear that whatever verdict we rendered would be met with anger from one side or the other. By the time Sunday came around, I was resolved to write a letter to my fellow jurors, making the strongest case possible for why nine of them should shift their opinions and agree with my certainty that Nelson was not guilty of murder in the second deg...

  “This is a safe space, just get it out however it comes out.” Juror 16 (Foreperson of the jury)   On Friday, June 21st, the twelve of us who had been retained as deliberating jurors began arriving at the courthouse around 8:30 a.m. I forgot to mention in the last chapter that right after Mr. Calfo completed his rebuttal closing argument, Judge Phelps announced that two of the fourteen of us had been selected as alternates all along. As she started to say that, my heart raced, and I thought: "Don’t be me, don’t be me." I had come so far with the case and had formed definite opinions, so I really wanted to see the process through. Judge Phelps read a series of instructions for the two jurors she was about to name. She said that even though they were being released now, they were still under the court's orders not to talk about the case. They were not to research the case or watch the news. They had to remain ready to rejoin the jury if something happened where one o...

  “They said he only had a second to shoot once he cleared the gun. I want you to think about that. Did Officer Nelson—did the defendant—only have a second to shoot? HE HAD AN ETERNITY TO WAIT! He could have waited an hour! There was nothing happening that required him to shoot!” Angelo Calfo   This statement from Mr. Calfo during his closing argument was echoed by Anthony (#6) during our deliberations. It's a statement that still reverberates in my mind to this day. On Tuesday, June 18th, we returned to court for Judge Phelps to read our instructions for deliberations. The very first statement in the instructions was as follows: “It is your duty to decide the facts in this case based upon the evidence presented to you during this trial. It also is your duty to accept the law from my instructions, regardless of what you personally believe the law is or what you personally think it should be. You must apply the law from my instructions to the fact that you decide have...

  “When Haug testified, that was all I needed. His testimony was really all that mattered to me.” Juror #13 during deliberations   At the time Juror #13 said that, I couldn’t have disagreed more with his sentiment. During the morning of June 10th, we heard from a couple of witnesses. The first was finishing testimony that had started the prior week. Russell Hicks, the assistant training officer during Officer Nelson’s academy training, testified about a variety of things related to what Nelson was trained on. He spoke about strategies for retaining one’s firearm and testified that Officer Nelson was explicitly taught to create distance from a suspect and tactically disengage if he couldn’t maintain control. Very importantly, he said Nelson was taught to give verbal warnings to a suspect before shooting, with repetition being key for these behaviors to become second nature. A particularly poignant statement he made was that officers would actually fail the test if the...