The murder trial against Eric Campbell continues Tuesday at a courtroom in Granville County, North Carolina. Prosecutors say he helped his father Edward Campbell kill a local couple on December 31, 2014. Victims Jerome Faulkner, 73, Dora Faulkner, 62, and their two dogs were stabbed to death. This was all part of an alleged crime spree from Texas to West Virginia.
Son Eric, now 23, must face the accusation by himself, as the elder Campbell killed himself while in custody as a pre-trial inmate at Central Prison in Raleigh, North Carolina.
During opening statements on Monday, defense attorney William Durham said Eric thought that the Faulkners were only going to get robbed, not murdered. The defendant was too afraid to stop the killings, having been abused by Edward Campbell for years, the defense said. It was all the fathers’ fault.
Nonetheless, Granville County Assistant District Attorney Allison Capps argued that the defendant was culpable. She said Eric Campbell got money to bond his father out of a Texas jail. The prosecutor said son helped his dad burn down the Faulkners’ house, and put the bodies in a pickup truck. Police captured the Campbells after a shootout the next day, January 1, 2015.
During testimony on Monday, the defense tried to highlight that Edward Campbell was the aggressive one, not Eric. For example, they attempted to establish during questioning that the father started the shootout while the son ran away.
The defendant, who faces two counts first-degree murder, could get the death penalty. He has also been charged with first-degree burglary, robbery with a dangerous weapon, second-degree arson, and two counts of cruelty to animals.
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