Shooter, getaway driver sentenced in murder of couple at Columbus internet gaming cafe

Jordan Laird, Columbus Dispatch
·2 min read
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Joseph and Karen Arrington had been married more than 10 years and were working at Players Paradise when police said they were killed during an armed robbery. Hours after news of their deaths, teddy bears, candles and photos were placed in the snow outside. [Bethany Bruner /Dispatch]
Joseph and Karen Arrington had been married more than 10 years and were working at Players Paradise when police said they were killed during an armed robbery. Hours after news of their deaths, teddy bears, candles and photos were placed in the snow outside. [Bethany Bruner /Dispatch]

The shooter and the getaway driver convicted in the 2019 murder of a husband and wife at an internet gaming cafe on Columbus' East Side have each been sentenced to decades in prison.

U.S. District Judge Michael H. Watson sentenced the driver, 29-year-old Justice B. Stringer, on Friday to 30 years in prison.

On Thursday, Watson sentenced the shooter, 28-year-old Chris A. King, to 40 years in prison.

King pleaded guilty in March to the two murders and a robbery charge. Watson pleaded guilty in February to charges including robbery and aiding and abetting murder.

Both men pleaded guilty in agreements with the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of Ohio in exchange for these recommended sentences.

Prosecutors said in court documents that the victims' family wanted to avoid a trial and supported the plea agreements extended to Stringer and King.

Stringer and King are the last two of five defendants total to be sentenced in connection with a string of armed robberies at Columbus internet cafes, including the deadly robbery in January 2019.

According to court records, King and Dezhan Townsend, 24, robbed Players Paradise on East Broad Street on Jan. 20, 2019 at gunpoint. King admitted that he fatally shot security guard Joseph Arrington, 38, and then his wife, employee Karen Arrington, 52.

Stringer admitted he drove the men to and away from the internet cafe, court records state. According to federal prosecutors, Stringer also helped plan the deadly robbery, recruited King and provided him with the murder weapon.

Federal prosecutors wrote in a sentencing memo of King:

"King was all too willing to pull the trigger after forcing his way into the office and being confronted by Joseph Arrington. Likewise, the murder of the unarmed Karen Arrington was a chilling choice made after any potential claim of danger had already been eliminated. The unnecessary deaths of both Arringtons in pursuit of a few thousand dollars has haunted both sides of the Arrington families ever since."

The group was also responsible for robbing Players Paradise previously on Dec. 10, 2018, when they stole $30,000 in cash, according to prosecutors. And Stringer admitted to his role in a robbery on Jan. 7, 2019 of Planet Jackpot cafe on Alum Creek Drive.

Watson sentenced Townsend in September to 20 years in prison for charges including murder. Townsend pleaded guilty to all charges against him.

Desjuan R. Lee Harris, 29, pleaded guilty in 2021 to robbery and other charges, and Watson sentenced him in November 2023 to eight years in prison.

Watson sentenced Brisco Dawkins, 56, in 2021 to eight years and seven months in prison after he pleaded guilty to charges including robbery.

jlaird@dispatch.com

@LairdWrites

This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Shooter, getaway driver sentenced to prison in Columbus double murder