APPLETON, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – The man who instigated the fight at a bar which ended with a police officer shooting an innocent bystander was convicted Thursday.
36-year old Henry Nellum pleaded guilty to five charges: recklessly endangering safety, felony murder, possession of a firearm by a felon, carrying a concealed weapon, operating a firearm while intoxicated. Sentencing is scheduled for April 3.
Nellum started a disturbance at Jack’s Apple Pub in May 2017. He fired a gun at Leander Moffitt during the fight. In the police response, Appleton Police Lieutenant Jay Steinke shot and killed a bystander, Jimmy Sanders, who was not involved in the fight. Steinke was cleared of any wrong-doing.
Nellum was charged with felony murder for Sanders’ death. Under Wisconsin law, because Nellum allegedly initiated the sequence of events which led to Sanders’ death, Nellum can be charged with Sanders’ death — even though he was not directly responsible for it. A state appeals court rejected Nellum’s effort to challenge the use of the statute in his case.
