A hatchet-wielding man accused of sneaking up on his father and hacking him to death has been found guilty.
A jury needed only a little more than two hours Friday to find John William Campbell, 39, guilty of first-degree murder in the death of John Henry Campbell, 68. John Campbell could face the death penalty.
That phase of the trial is set to begin at 8:30 a.m. Tuesday in Circuit Judge Ric Howard’s courtroom.
Jurors had the option of convicting Campbell as charged or of a lesser charge. Campbell admitted he killed his father in August 2010, but his attorneys argued that he did not scheme to kill him and cover it up. They blamed the act on the younger Campbell's depression and use of crack cocaine.
Campbell’s attorneys called it a “pressure-cooker” situation brought on by a controlling and distant father and said the younger Campbell simply snapped. Father and son shared a double-wide home in Inverness.
The prosecution presented a different picture of Campbell.
Prosecutors argued Campbell planned his father’s death for days and then tried to conceal the act afterward.