Aunt: Texas man took fall for Granville couple's murders because dad wasn't there

A Texas man serving a life sentence for robbing and killing a Granville County couple is paying for the sins of his father, his aunt says.

Eric Alexander Campbell, 24, of Alvin, Texas, was convicted last month of two counts of first-degree murder, first-degree burglary, second-degree arson, robbery with a dangerous weapon and two counts of cruelty to animals in the Dec. 31, 2014, deaths of Jerome Faulkner, 73, and his wife, Dora Faulkner, 62.

Prosecutors sought the death penalty in the case, but jurors opted in favor of recommending a sentence of life in prison without parole.

"It’s not possible that he did those things," his aunt, Sherri Barnes, said in a recent interview with WRAL News.

Authorities say Campbell and his father, Edward Watson Campbell, stormed into the Faulkners' home in northern Granville County, robbed them, killed them and set fire to the house before fleeing in both the couple's Chevrolet Silverado and a stolen SUV.

Police in Lewisburg, W.Va., arrested the Campbells on Jan. 1, 2015, following a shootout, and investigators found the Faulkners' bodies under a mattress in the back of the pickup.

Edward Campbell killed himself two months later in Raleigh’s Central Prison, leaving his son to face trial alone in the case.

Defense attorneys argued during three weeks of testimony that Eric Campbell suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder after years of physical and emotional abuse at the hands of his father, which left him incapable of standing up to Ed Campbell and preventing the carnage in the Faulkners' home.

Barnes, who is Ed Campbell's sister, agrees with that assessment.

"There’s not a violent bone in his body. He’s not an aggressive or angry kind of person, despite the environment he grew up in. He has gone the other way in terms of being a more passive and a more compassionate person," she said. "I don’t believe that the jury got a full understanding of who Eric is. I don’t believe they got a full understanding of who my brother was."

The defense three times tried to get statements made by Ed Campbell to law enforcement after his arrest exonerating his son of the murders into evidence, but the judge refused to let the jury hear the statements.

Barnes said she thinks the statements could have persuaded jurors to acquit her nephew.

"There was a feeling, I think, of frustration sometimes when you were trying to explain something and figure out how to explain something to people who may have never experienced the kind of environment that my nephew grew up in," she said. "People who haven’t experienced that, probably it’s hard for them to have understanding or compassion for that kind of environment and the impact it has."

She said prosecutors and jurors felt obligated to punish someone up for the murders because the Faulkners were such a beloved couple in the community, and Eric Campbell was the only option since her brother was already dead.

After his arrest in West Virginia, Eric Campbell couldn't explain what had happened, Barnes said.

"He asked me many times during the course of our conversations, 'Why couldn’t I stop him? What’s wrong with me?'" she said. "He was so distraught he was not able to pull it all together or even express himself effectively.

"It’s not as easy as people want to make it seem for him to express himself," she continued. "He’s lived in an environment where he was abused from the time he was very young and taught that you don’t show it on the outside because you don’t attract attention. You don’t tell, and you don’t run from it."

Barnes said the unusual sequence of events during the trial probably should have resulted in a mistrial.

Shortly after deliberations began, one juror asked to be relieved of her duties, and she later was involved in an auto accident that caused a three-week halt to deliberations. After Eric Campbell was convicted, there was another two-week break before the sentencing phase of the trial because Hurricane Harvey made it difficult to bring some defense witnesses in from Texas.

"I certainly think those things are impactful," Barnes said. "I don’t know if it’s possible for people for three weeks in such a small community to not talk about it or not be asked about it."

She has since moved from Arizona to South Carolina to be closer to her nephew and fight for his freedom.

"I will be here by Eric’s side continuing on through this. I don’t imagine myself ever stopping until my nephew is home because I do believe that he is innocent," she said, choking back tears.

"This has fueled something inside of me in the process of trying to learn more about the law. I feel a very strong pull to get more involved, not just for my nephew but for other people," she said. "I don't believe [the justice system] works the way I envision justice is supposed to work, and I’d like to be part of, even at a small level, doing something to drive change. I hope that something good can come out of what my nephew has been through and what my family has been through and what the Faulkners have been through."