PORT ANGELES — Ari Lee King, the Sequim man accused of beating a Joyce woman to death in September 2014, pleaded guilty Monday to second-degree murder.
The 42-year-old will be sentenced at 9 a.m. Nov. 2 in Clallam County Superior Court.
King faces a sentencing range of 13 years, nine months to 22 years, one month in prison with credit for the 11 months he has already spent in jail.
If the court accepts a penalty recommended in a plea deal, King will be sentenced to 18 years in prison, Chief Criminal Deputy Prosecuting Attorney Michele Devlin said Monday.
Clallam County sheriff’s detectives alleged that King beat Diane Cunningham to death with a carjack in her home Sept. 28, 2014, then took her money and abandoned her car in remote Malheur County, Ore.
Cunningham was 65.
King was arrested in Eastern Oregon last Nov. 13 and transported to the Clallam County jail the next day.
His trial was previously scheduled for Nov. 16 of this year.
Former trial dates of Jan. 5, May 4 and July 13 were scratched because of delays with DNA testing at a State Patrol crime laboratory.
The plea agreement was reached by Devlin and defense attorney Loren Oakley of Clallam Public Defender.
Clallam County Superior Court Judge Erik Rohrer granted King’s waiver of a pre-sentencing intake investigation but ordered him to undergo a community risk assessment.
Cunningham was last seen accompanied by King on video surveillance footage taken at 7 Cedars Casino in Blyn and the Port Angeles Walmart, detectives said.
Her body was discovered by her daughter’s boyfriend Oct. 6, according to the arrest report.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5072, or at rollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
