Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Nashville, AR: Ark. man convicted in wife's death wants new trial

NASHVILLE, Ark. (AP) — A Stamps man who was convicted and sentenced to life in prison for hiring a man to kill his estranged wife is asking for a new trial.

In a petition filed in Howard County Circuit Court, David Camp, 66, claims his trial attorney made errors that deprived him of effective legal counsel. Camp's attorney, Paul Hoover of Texarkana, has died since the 2009 trial. Camp is representing himself.

A jury convicted Camp in 2009 on a charge of accessory to first-degree murder in the May 2008 shooting death of Robin Camp, 42, inside a Nashville department store where she worked.

Prosecutors alleged David Camp hired Harry Surber, of Ashdown, to kill Robin Camp because he thought she was having an affair.

According to trial testimony, Surber shot Robin Camp twice in the head with a pistol at the checkout counter. He pleaded guilty in June 2009 to first-degree murder and is serving a 40-year prison term.

Authorities said Camp asked his sister, JoAnn Hicks, 77, to hire Surber to murder Robin Camp. She pleaded guilty in June 2009 to conspiracy to commit first-degree murder and was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The Arkansas Parole Board released Hicks on May 31, and she will be on supervised parole until July 7, 2018.

If Camp's motion is denied, he can appeal to the Arkansas Court of Appeals or the Arkansas Supreme Court, the Texarkana Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/qL2ato ).

A hearing on David Camp's motion is set for Nov. 18 in Nashville.

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