Murder-for-hire retrial denied

Husband’s claims of shoddy lawyer unproven, judge says

NASHVILLE — A man who hired a hit man to kill his wife will not get a new trial.

In a decision issued Wednesday, 9th Circuit Judge Charles Yeargan said David Camp, 68, failed to prove he received inadequate legal counsel in his original trial in 2009. Camp is serving a life sentence in prison for paying an assassin to kill his estranged wife while she was at work at a discount store in 2008. Yeargan addressed Camp’s request at a March 4 hearing in Howard County Circuit Court.

“The testimony from the hearing and his post-hearing brief do not show sufficient facts to support a claim of ineffective assistance of counsel, and fails to show his attorney’s actions fell below the standards and that the outcome of the trial would have been different,” Yeargan said in his decision. “Defendant fails to state grounds for relief under Rule 37, and his petition should be denied.”

A Rule 37 hearing — socalled because it’s authorized by the Arkansas criminal code — allows a convicted prisoner to seek a new trial because the defendant’s trial attorney purportedly made errors depriving the defendant of effective legal counsel.

Camp, who was seeking to be released from prison, argued that his attorney, Paul Hoover of Texarkana, failed to keep him informed on a potential plea agreement to receive 20 years in prison instead of going before a jury.

Prosecutors did not offer a plea agreement to Camp.

The jury found Camp guilty May 1, 2009, of first-degree murder as an accomplice and sentenced him to life in prison.

Camp hired Harry Surber, 43, of Ashdown to fatally shoot Robin Camp, 42, on Memorial Day 2008 at a Family Dollar discount store. Camp arranged the hire through his sister, JoAnn Hicks, 78, of Ogden.

According to court records, Hicks arranged the murder for two reasons: David Camp suspected his wife was having an affair, and Hicks was worried Robin Camp was attempting to get money and property from David Camp.

Surber had never met Robin Camp before he shot her twice in the head with a pistol at the checkout counter, according to trial testimony in 2009.

Surber pleaded guilty June 17, 2009, and received 40 years in prison. He will be eligible for parole when he is 67.

Hicks pleaded guilty June 17, 2009, to conspiracy to commit murder in the first degree. She was sentenced to 10 years in prison.

The Arkansas Parole Board released Hicks on May 1, 2011. She will be supervised until July 7, 2018.