Petaluma Man Sentenced for Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, and Solicitation to Commit Murder

Defendant Anthony Eugene Nelson, 33 years old of Petaluma, was sentenced earlier today by the Honorable Dana Simonds to serve 50 years in state prison after pleading no-contest in November of last year to crimes including sexual assault, inflicting great bodily injury upon a domestic partner, and solicitation to commit murder.

District Attorney Carla Rodriguez stated, "The surviving victim showed great courage in coming forward and being willing to testify against the defendant. This was despite the physical attacks against her, and his efforts to terrorize her from within the jail. The sentence of fifty years in prison is entirely appropriate."

The charges were filed after Nelson physically and sexually assaulted the victim, his domestic partner, on multiple occasions between March 11, 2022, and April 5, 2022. At the time, both defendant and the victim were transient and lived together in a tent in the Steamer’s Landing area of Petaluma. During this time, Nelson verbally abused, physically assaulted, and threatened to kill the victim if she ever left him. 

On March 11, 2022, the defendant physically attacked the victim and sexually assaulted her during an argument, strangling her to the point of unconsciousness. On April 5, 2022, Mr. Nelson again strangled the victim after she attempted to leave their tent, again with enough force to render her unconsciousness. 

Nelson was arrested and charged with offenses related to the above crimes. While in the Sonoma County jail awaiting trial, he solicited other inmates to murder the victim to prevent her from testifying against him in court. His attempts to hire someone to kill the victim were then discovered and investigated.

On November 3, 2023, on the eve of trial, Nelson pled no-contest to six felony crimes including sexual assault, domestic violence, and solicitation to commit murder. In exchange, the District Attorney’s Office agreed to a stipulated sentence of 50 years in state prison.

The case was prosecuted by Deputy District Attorney Marianna Green, assisted by District Attorney Investigator Dave Linscomb. Sgt. Jake Gutierrez of Petaluma Police Dept.  headed the investigation.