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A Vanderburgh Superior Court judge sentenced a man to 145 years in prison on Dec. 15 after his conviction in November on two murder counts, the county’s prosecutor’s office announced.
According to the prosecutor’s office, a jury found Arthur Lee Jones IV guilty of murdering Derek Johnson and Samantha Robbins after a weeklong trial.
On Dec. 19, 2021, police officers were dispatched to 1208 Marshall Ave. after a neighbor called to report a young child wandering around saying his mother was shot dead.
When officers arrived at the home, two additional children were found inside.
Johnson and Robbins were found in their bedroom deceased.
One of the children stated that “Uncle Art” had shot their mother. With the description the children gave to a police officer, detectives identified “Uncle Art” to be Jones.
Deputy Prosecutor John Bober and Chief Deputy Prosecutor Winston Lin presented evidence indicating that Jones had shot the couple with the intent to rob them.
After almost four hours of deliberation on Nov. 17, the jury found Jones guilty of both murder charges, according to the prosecutor’s office.
At the sentencing, the prosecution recommended the maximum of 150 years served.
Vanderburgh Superior Judge Leslie C. Shively sentenced Jones to 145 years to be served consecutively.
“The Defendant in this case was on parole for a violent crime a mere 65 days before he took the lives of two individuals. He took the parents away from the three children who knew the Defendant as ‘Uncle Art’ and were in the home at the time of the murders. The children in this case were critical witnesses and are traumatized by seeing their parents dead,” Vanderburgh County Prosecutor Diana Moers said in a statement. “Arthur Jones is not fit to walk among society and will now spend the rest of his life in prison where he belongs for his evil deeds. I will never forget the brave children in this case, and I know we all live with the impact of hearing their stories.”
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