Nelson has spent a total of less than four years of the past 14 outside the walls of a Minnesota jail or prison. In that time, he has been accused of at least seven violent crimes. The longest stretch of time that Nelson was not incarcerated was two years and seven months, between 2011 and 2013.

When Nelson was 17, in 1999, he served almost six months in prison for drug sales.

He was free on these dates:

  • May 7, 2000 - June 17, 2000
  • June 17, 2000: Nelson was charged with simple robbery and fleeing police for being the getaway driver after an acquaintance knocked a woman to the ground outside Knollwood Mall in St. Louis Park and stole her purse.
  • Oct. 12, 2000 - June 30, 2001
  • June 30, 2001: Nelson was charged with aggravated first-degree robbery after robbing a man at gunpoint outside Mickey's Liquor Store in north Minneapolis. Those charges were later dropped.
  • Sept. 19, 2001 - Oct. 22, 2001
  • Oct. 22, 2001: Nelson was charged with first-degree aggravated robbery after he robbed a man at gunpoint and stole the man's car in north Minneapolis. "If you call the police I know where you live, I'll kill you," Nelson told man as he pointed the gun at his face and slid a round into the chamber.
  • Feb. 5, 2003 - March 20, 2003
  • June 19, 2003 - July 7, 2003
  • July 5, 2003: Nelson was charged with multiple counts of aggravated first-degree robbery after he tricked a man into letting him into the man's apartment in Brooklyn Park, then pulling a gun and robbing the residents of jewelry and money. He pointed the gun at the heads of each person, including three children and threatened to kill them.
  • Dec. 12, 2011 - June 12, 2013
  • Nelson was under intensive supervised release from the time he was released from prison on Dec. 11, 2011 until May 25, 2013. June 12, 2013: Nelson is charged with first-degree burglary for allegedly forcing his way into a Richfield apartment with a gun, demanding to speak to a man who lived there and forcing a woman into the basement.
  • June 21, 2013 - July 11, 2013
  • Sept. 19, 2013 - Sept.24, 2013
  • Sept. 22, 2013: Nelson is charged with fatally shooting Palagor Obang Jobi, 23, outside Nina's Grill in Burnsville. He is a suspect in the death of Anarae Schunk, who disappeared after returning to the Rosemount townhouse of Nelson's girlfriend after the shooting. Her body was found Monday (Sept. 30) in a roadside ditch near Lonsdale, Minn.