BATON ROUGE — Christian King made headlines in early 2023 after he was caught on video setting fire to his ex-girlfriend and their 6-month-old baby’s home. Today, he was in court and declined a plea deal for 15 years for an aggravated arson charge.
“It’s just a long road ahead of me. We have to start with trial and see how this goes. I hope a jury understands the situation and that he’s dangerous and needs to stay in jail,” said King’s ex-girlfriend Breanna Jones.
The Texas-based attorney was arrested and charged with simple arson, simple criminal damage to property and violations of protective orders following a fire at his ex-girlfriend’s home on January 14. The simple arson charge was later upgraded to aggravated arson. Aggravated arson means it was foreseeable that human life was in danger.
King, 30, allegedly violated a protective order against his ex-girlfriend six times since Dec. 2022. The most recent violation was setting fire to her home on Jan. 14th. Thankfully, Jones and the couple’s 6-month-old baby girl were not inside the home at the time of the fire.
After his arrest, in February 2023, 19th JDC Judge Eboni Johnson Rose ordered a sanity hearing to determine whether King was competent to stand trial. May 2023, he was found to be competent to move forward with a trial.
Oct. 25, 2023, Jones tells Unfiltered with Kiran that the EBR District Attorney’s Office discussed with her what she would be comfortable with as a potential plea deal.
“The maximum sentence for aggravated arson is 20 years so that’s why I said 15 years and Judge Eboni agreed with my request for 15 years, but he didn’t want to accept that so we’re headed to trial now,” said Jones.
Now, the case heads to trial, which is scheduled for June 10, 2024.
“Though we hope for a resolution prior to trial, if it proceeds, the entire truth of the matter will be told,” said King’s attorney Ron Haley.
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