A man who pleaded guilty to repeatedly stabbing a woman with a pair of scissors and setting her on fire inside a National City motel room was sentenced Tuesday to more than 18 years in state prison.
Jeremiah Dayvon King, 29, pleaded guilty to attempted murder, arson and pimping charges for the Dec. 13, 2020, attack at the Rodeway Inn on Roosevelt Avenue.
At around 3 a.m. that day, officers arrived at the scene and found that other motel guests had extinguished the blaze and pulled the woman from the room, according to Captain Alex Hernandez of the National City Police Department.
The victim was hospitalized with life-threatening injuries, which included stab wounds and burns.
Prosecutors alleged King was the victim’s pimp, though a motive for the attack was not disclosed.
At King’s sentencing hearing, Deputy District Attorney Jalyn Wang read a statement from the victim, in which she said she was pleased with the agreed-upon 18-year, four-month sentence and forgave King because “she has to forgive him in order to move on.”
King, who was described at the time of the crime as a Texas resident, was arrested four days later in the 300 block of Oxford Street in Chula Vista.
Police spotted him walking in the area at about 12:45 p.m., and captured him after he initially fled from officers, Hernandez said.