Good evening from the KUW Newsroom.

This is Seattle now. I'm Paige Browning.

Here are today's top stories. It's Thursday, May 16th.

Starting with the murder trial of a police officer that's just begun, today lawyers gave opening statements in the trial of an Auburn cop Jeffrey Nelson. He fatally shot a man outside a grocery store nearly five years ago. Amy Radle was in court watching today.

Auburn police officer Jeffrey Nelson is charged with second-degree murder and first-degree assault in the shooting of

Jesse Surrey. Officer Nelson tried to arrest Surrey for disorderly conduct in 2019. Prosecutors

told jurors that Surrey's death was unnecessary and that Nelson's actions violated his training.

Defense attorneys said Nelson's actions were legitimate. They say he's eager to testify

and give his version of events. Nelson's trial is seen as an important test of a new voter-approved

standard for convicting police officers of misconduct. Prosecutors no longer have to show officers

acted with malice, but that deadly force was neither reasonable nor necessary.

Amy Radle, KUOW News.

Today, prosecutors charged light rail stabbing suspect Sean Patrick Moore I second with murder.

The charges by the King County prosecutor specify one count of second-degree murder and one count

of intimidating a witness. Moore is

accused of stabbing Corey Bellett multiple times on the Capitol Hill train platform Saturday

evening. Court documents indicate the two got into an argument after Ballet brushed by Moore

on the escalator. Moore allegedly threatened to kill an acquaintance if he spoke to police.

He's scheduled to make a plea in court May 29th.

One way to look at the opioid crisis is to look at the numbers.

And that's what local public health officials did today. July through September last year was the deadliest quarter ever in King County. But numbers have begun to fall slightly since the end of 2023. Here's how Brad Feingood with Public Health, Seattle and King County, reads into it.

That may plateau, but at least at this point we're not seeing the steady increase in overdose deaths.

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