Judge sentences Columbus man who pleaded guilty to stabbing his wife almost 60 times
A Columbus man who pleaded guilty to stabbing his wife nearly 60 times and slashing her sister in a bloody 2019 frenzy was sentenced to life in prison Friday.
Marcus Dewayne King killed 34-year-old De Ann King around noon on May 25 at her 6518 Dorsey Drive home, where he also cut the sister who came to her aid, investigators said.
Besides murder, he initially was charged with possession of a knife during the commission of a crime, aggravated assault and third-degree cruelty to children.
But prosecutors previously assigned to the case did not pursue an indictment on all of those counts. Standing before visiting Judge Joe Bishop, he agreed to a negotiated deal in which he pleaded guilty only to malice or intentional murder. Bishop sentenced him to life with the possibility of parole.
That means he likely will serve 30 years, before he’s eligible for release. He is 42 years old.
The family
In court De Ann King’s family tearfully testified to the effect of losing her to such violence, and told the defendant how much she loved him, despite his abusive conduct.
“Marcus, you took her away from all of us,” said sister Chavala Robinson, who was not the one he attacked. “There’s nothing you can say that will justify that.... I don’t believe you ever loved her. We will never forgive you for what you did to her.”
“She should have left you,” said the victim’s mother, Gloria Champion.
With their family at their side, the mother and sister spoke to reporters outside the courtroom, after the sentencing.
“I hope he understands what he has done,” the mother said. “I know my daughter loved him. She left him a lot of times because of the way he treated her, but she didn’t leave him..... She wouldn’t come home. She stayed with him trying to make their marriage work. She did everything in her marriage. It was just like he was her child instead of her husband, in some ways.”
De Ann’s father, Leaurenza Champion, saw the danger his daughter faced, she said: “My husband said to me, he said, ‘He’s going to kill her,’ and there was no way that we could change that.”
Robinson said the father died Saturday, after waiting more than three years to see justice for his daughter. “We know they’re together in heaven,” she said.
The family will remember De Ann’s smile, voice and loving demeanor, she said.
“Out of all of us, she was the sweetest, full of life, full of spirit, always laughing, smiling, dancing,” said the sister. “Everyone said her smile lights up a room. She had a beautiful voice. She was loving to her kids, all of our kids.”
The children loved her, too, she added: “She was the favorite auntie. All of the kids wanted to be with Auntie Dee Dee, so he took the part away from us that gave us joy, and we don’t have that anymore.”
What happened?
The day of the murder, De Ann, another sister and the sister’s 9-year-old daughter had dropped by the Dorsey Drive residence en route to the Shaw High School graduation at the Columbus Civic Center, on the Saturday before Memorial Day. Another relative was to graduate, and Robinson was already there, waiting for them to arrive.
De Ann went inside with the niece, who saw De Ann go into a bedroom with Marcus, and then heard her screaming for help, police said.
The child ran outside to get her mother, whom Marcus attacked when she came to her sister’s defense. She ran back outside to her daughter, calling 911 at 12:14 p.m.
During the attack, the pocketknife slipped, cutting Marcus across the palm. Dripping blood, he went out the door and walked away, telling neighbors at four houses what he’d done, witnesses said.
Eventually he stopped outside a residence to wash his hand with a hose and wrap his wound, police said. Then he saw some in-laws looking for him, and assumed that they would shoot him, detectives said, so he went into a neighbor’s house and barricaded himself in a bathroom.
Then he jumped out a window, losing his shoes and cell phone, and fled until officers saw him on Mazor Drive, where he told them, “Just shoot me,” they reported. They were able to arrest him without further violence.
He was represented Friday by public defender Jose Guzman. The prosecutor was Assistant District Attorney Victoria Novak, whom Robinson credited with finally treating the family like victims, and bringing their wait for justice to an end. Previous authorities behaved as if Marcus were the one wronged, she said: “He’s actually been treated like the victim.”
De Ann’s mother said she hopes other abusive men will learn from what happened to her daughter.
“It would be nice if someone would think, you just can’t give somebody their life back, once you take it,” she said.
This story was originally published October 28, 2022 at 2:33 PM.