The murder trial against Eric Campbell continues Wednesday 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, and aided his father during the crime spree. Police captured the Campbells after a shootout the day after the murders, January 1, 2015.
On Tuesday, a decision by Judge Henry Hight in no way helped the defendant.
#EricCampbell Trial – The Judge denied defense request to allow deceased father’s statement that he alone killed the victims.
— LawNewz Network (@LawNewzNetwork) July 11, 2017
Eric Campbell, 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.
[Screengrab via LawNewz Network]
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