APPLETON - One year after a bystander was fatally shot by a police officer at a downtown bar, the contentious case against the man accused of instigating the shooting has yet to be resolved in the courts.
The anniversary of the May 21, 2017, dispute that turned deadly at Jack’s Apple Pub on College Avenue comes only a few days after the resolution of a similar case arising from a standoff at a Neenah motorcycle shop in 2015.
In that case, Brian T. Flatoff was sentenced to 100 years in prison for a series of convictions arising from a December 2015 hostage standoff and subsequent police shooting of one of those hostages at Eagle Nation Cycles in Neenah.
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The Appleton and Neenah cases are similar in some key aspects. Both involvehigh-profile police shootings that were ruled justified, and both feature the seldom-used felony murder law, which can be charged when a person's actions are a "substantial factor" in causing a death.
In the Jack’s Apple Pub case, Henry M. Nellum, 34, didn’t fire the shot that killed Jimmie M. Sanders, 33. But authorities argue that by firing a shot at another man during a fight, his actionsbrought Appleton police Lt. Jay Steinke to the bar, where Steinke fired his gun at Nellum and mistakenly struck Sanders.
Nellum, whose attorney challenged the constitutionality of the felony murder statute at the circuit and appellate court levels, is scheduled to stand trial in December.
After a 13-dayinvestigation by the Green Bay Police Department, then-Outagamie County District Attorney Carrie Schneider determined that no charges against Steinke were warranted.
"My conclusion, after that analysis and after listening to or watching the videos ... as well as looking over the written statements and the statements made by different individuals in this action, is that Lt. Jay Steinke acted appropriately given the threat," Schneider said inannouncing the findings of the investigation during a press conferencelast year at the Appleton Police Department.
Schneider has since become an Outagamie County judge.
A Winnebago County jury convicted Flatoff of felony murder over the objections of his attorney, who conceded his guilt to the majority of felony charges filed by prosecutors.
Flatoff was accused of taking hostages at gunpoint and shooting at police officers during the standoff. The incident led to the police shooting death of Michael Funk after he escaped from the building armed with a handgun.
“Your decisions and actions led to the death of Mr. Funk,” Winnebago County Judge John Jorgensen told Flatoff at his sentencing last Wednesday.
In the Jack's Apple Pub case, Nellum is charged with attempted first-degree intentional homicide, felony murder, first-degree recklessly endangering safety, possession of a firearm by a felon, operating a firearm while intoxicated, carrying a concealed weapon and disorderly conduct. An aggravated battery charge was previously dismissed.
Sanders was unarmed and uninvolved in the fight between Nellum and another man, Leander Moffitt, during which Nellum shot at Moffitt, bringingpolice to the College Avenue bar, according to authorities.
Steinke fired four shots into the bar while patrons tried to push past him to leave the establishment. Nellum was shot in the lower left bicep, and the second shot struck Sanders in the lower back, hitting an artery, Schneider said last year. Two final shots hit the bar and the cash register.
In the wake of the shooting, protesters marched down College Avenue from Houdini Plaza to the scene of the shooting, shouting"No justice, no peace." Organizers called for, among other things,body camera footage to be released and for a federal investigation into whether the shooting was a civil rights violation. Neither of those things have happened.
Sanders' family also retained a prominent personal injury and civil rights attorney from Milwaukee in the weeks following his death.
Although Nellum is still awaiting trial, a case against a woman who came to the bar with him that night concluded in April. Outagamie County Judge Nancy Krueger ordered Dree Sullivan, who hidNellum's gun under her car after Steinke fired, to serve 3½ years on probation. A 2½ year prison term hangs over her head if she violates the conditions of probation.
