A Jasper County jury found Campbell guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison for both murders.
Robert Campbell's attorney argued that Campbell's trial attorney had offered ineffective counsel by offering the jury lesser alternatives to a first degree murder charge since a conviction might have resulted in a death sentence.
The appellate panel, in a ruling handed down Tuesday, rejected that argument unanimously.
Campbell's murder scheme, which resulted in the April 18, 2011 deaths of his nephew Russell Porter and his wife Rebecca, who were newlywedsreceived national attention when it was featured in a documentary on the Oxygen network.
The crime was described in the court's opinion:
Movant, age 72, was charged with two counts of first-degree murder for ordering the killing of his nephew, Russell Porter (“Russell”), and Russell’s wife, Rebecca Porter (“Rebecca”). The State charged that Movant, “acting with one or more persons,” caused the Porters’ deaths on April 18, 2011, “by offering consideration to one or more persons to kill” them.
The State’s theory of the case was that Defendant contracted with his brother-in-law, Tony Friend, to kill the Porters while Defendant was out of town driving a truck, which would provide Defendant with an alibi.
The plan was to have the Porters kidnapped and killed outside of their home on the theory that “if there’s no body, there’s no crime.”
Russell was the son of Defendant’s sister. Russell and Defendant had recently been granted mutual orders of protection against each other. The State alleged that there was “bad blood” between the two men because Defendant believed that Russell was lazy and he and Rebecca were living on the Campbell family farm where Defendant had been raised despite Russell never having done anything to help with the farm.
There had been heated altercations between the two men leading up to the Porters’ deaths, including an incident in which Russell charged at Defendant with a 20-foot long pipe, and Russell had used a board with nails in it to demarcate property lines.
Approximately three weeks after the orders of protection were granted, late in the evening on April 18, 2011, police responded to the Porters’ home when Rebecca’s daughter reported being concerned about not having heard from her. Defendant was driving a truck in Texas at that time.
Upon entering the Porters’ home, police found that a screen over the kitchen window had been cut, bleach had been poured on the kitchen and dining room floors, the bedding had been removed from the bed, the mattress was askew on its box springs, and the Porters were not there.
The Porters’ bodies were eventually found in July 2011 in a remote area of Taney County. Both had been shot in the head.
Phillip Friend, the son of Tony Friend, testified that he was his father’s “right hand man” in crime. At his father’s behest, Phillip, along with a group of people that included his father, planned to kidnap the Porters from their home.
The plan was formulated during the course of two meetings that took place in Tony’s apartment. At first, the plan was to kidnap the Porters and “take them to birthdays[,]” meaning to kill them.
The plan was allegedly changed to just kidnapping the Porters and scaring them into moving, but Phillip doubted that it was just a scare tactic.
The kidnapping had to occur before the 19th of April because Defendant was returning from the road that day. Phillip said the plan involved “murder and $100,000.”
Phillip and the others kidnapped the Porters from their home, drove them to a remote location approximately two hours away, where Tony then walked the Porters into the woods and shot them.
Defendant’s cellmate testified that Defendant confessed to him after “prayer circle” “that he hired his brother-in-law [Tony] to kill his sister’s boy” while Defendant was out of state driving a truck.
Defendant’s son testified that the dispute between his father and Russell had escalated to the point that Defendant said that Russell’s “days are numbered[.]” Defendant also told his daughter, while she was wearing a wire for the police, that Russell “was a pain in the ass[,]” and had been “snitching” on them “all the time.”
Defendant said “[a]ll of us had a reason to do it[.]” Phillip also testified that Defendant approached him while they were both in jail and told him that he would “take care of” whoever was putting Defendant’s name out there as having been involved in the murder of the Porters.
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Two children. Two brutal murders. Two small towns changed forever. Lost Angels: The Murders of Rowan Ford and Doug Ringler is available in paperback and e-book from Amazon.com
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