Even if he didn’t pull the trigger, Julio Segura’s needless and increasingly violent acts made him the only person responsible for the accidental fatal shooting of an off-duty Vancouver police officer, Clark County’s top prosecutor said as Segura’s trial began this week.
Segura, now 22, is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in the death of Officer Don Sahota, who was shot dead on his own front doorstep by a Clark County sheriff’s deputy, Prosecuting Attorney Tony Golik told the jury Monday.
Golik announced early last year that Deputy Jonathan Feller would face no charges for shooting Sahota with a rifle outside Sahota’s Battle Ground home on Jan. 29, 2022. Feller had mistaken the officer for the suspect.
Segura’s attorney didn’t dispute much of what led up to the officer’s shooting but said Feller shouldn’t have fired so hastily and is responsible for Sahota’s death.
The trial before a jury of 16, including four alternates, is expected to take three weeks.
Golik said Sahota had been lawfully detaining Segura when Segura yanked Sahota’s gun out of his hand and stabbed him twice with a long knife, puncturing Sahota’s lungs and nearly gutting the 52-year-old officer.
Feller arrived moments later, just as Segura disappeared inside the home and Sahota, clutching his stomach, reached down to pick up his pistol, Golik said.
Sahota was in shock, knew his wife was now alone inside the home with Segura and likely had no awareness that Feller was shouting at him to drop the gun, the prosecutor said.
“Deputy Feller is put in a horrible, horrible position because of the defendant’s actions at this point,” Golik said. “He makes a decision that will no doubt haunt him for the rest of his life.”
Segura’s crime spree had begun the previous day, Golik said, when Segura asked to test drive a “turbo-charged” Mercedes Benz from a car dealership in Yakima and sped off before the salesman could get in the sedan.
On Jan. 29, Segura held up a gas station clerk at gunpoint on Northeast 117th Avenue in nearby Orchards around 8 p.m. and fled with $500 in cash, Golik said. He noted that Segura’s firearm turned out to be a pellet gun indistinguishable from the real thing — though authorities wouldn’t learn that until later.
Police from multiple agencies pursued Segura, who sped off at speeds above 100 mph and avoided a set of spike strips before crashing in a ditch just north of Battle Ground’s downtown, according to Golik and a probable cause affidavit filed previously.
As a police drone buzzed in the sky above, Segura ran through scrub woods and soon rang Sahota’s front door, telling the off-duty officer that he had just “wrecked out from a cop chase” and asking to come inside, Golik said. Segura had picked Sahota’s front door randomly.
Sahota refused — and went to shut the front door — but then remembered that his son-in-law was likely nearby in a tiny home on his property, Golik said. Sahota’s wife, Dawnese, had also just called 911 and learned that Segura truly was on the run, the prosecutor said.
“If he had just shut his door, he would have been endangering his neighbors,” Golik said.
Sahota grabbed his gun and ordered Segura to get on the ground, Golik said, telling the jury they would see the encounter unfold on the drone’s infrared video.
Segura appeared to comply, but the former high school wrestler then fought to grab Sahota’s gun as the officer approached, Golik said. Segura began stabbing Sahota from behind as the officer held him in a headlock, Golik said.
By then, other officers had converged at the end of a long driveway leading to Sahota’s home and were urged to approach quickly by the drone operator and the pilot of a police plane who could see Sahota losing control of his gun, Golik said.
Feller fired within seconds after arriving when he saw Sahota, holding the gun and attempting to kick open his own door, Golik said.
The prosecutor said deputies took Segura into custody shortly after the shooting and told the jury that they would hear him admit to the stabbing during a three-hour confession.
Defense attorney Ed Dunkerly argued that Feller should be held responsible for Sahota’s death because he ignored his training, “just shooting first and asking questions later.”
In his telling, Segura was a young man from Yakima who started carrying a knife because he was threatened by local gang members.
The attorney said Sahota had used a “chokehold” that cut off Segura’s air supply and left him with no choice but to defend himself. During his confession, Segura believed he had killed Sahota by stabbing him, but in reality the stab wounds were “survivable,” the defense attorney said.
Feller fired four times from about 37 feet away, striking Sahota twice in the back, with two rounds hitting his aorta, Dunkerly said.
“If he had been shot in an operating room, they almost certainly couldn’t have saved him,” Dunkerly said of Sahota. “(Feller) should have identified that target, given that person a few more seconds to comply.”
Feller also was involved in another high-profile fatal shooting on the job when he was among three officers who shot Kevin Peterson Jr. during a drug deal sting in October 2020. Peterson, a 21-year-old Black man from Camas, had a gun.
In that case, the Pierce County prosecuting attorney, who was called in to review the shooting, determined Feller and the other officers were justified and acted lawfully because Peterson was armed and ignored commands.
Clark County Superior Court Judge Nancy Retsinas ruled last month that defense attorneys can’t bring up the Peterson shooting during Segura’s trial.
Segura, wearing an untucked black collared shirt, khaki pants and thick glasses, leaned forward attentively as his attorney spoke.
Besides the first-degree murder charges, Segura also faces counts of second-degree murder, first-degree burglary, robbery, attempted kidnapping and possessing a stolen car.
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