ROBERT LEE CAMPBELL, d/o/b 7-09-1944, of Willard, was sentenced Monday afternoon, September 12, 2016, in the Circuit Court of Jasper County, by Judge Gayle Crane, after being found guilty of murder in the second degree by a jury, in July. Judge Crane accepted the Jasper County jury’s recommendation of life on both counts of murder in the second degree, and, after hearing arguments on Monday, ordered that the life terms run consecutively with each other.

On July 13, 2016, the Jasper County jury returned two (2) guilty verdicts against Campbell for murder in the second degree, for Campbell’s role in soliciting the murders of Russell and Rebecca Porter, in April of 2011. The jury deliberated for several hours before reaching its verdicts. Following the guilty verdicts, the same jury heard evidence on sentencing, and delivered recommendations of life for each of the two (2) counts. Campbell’s trial was heard in Jasper County on a change of venue from Taney County – where Russell and Rebecca Porter’s remains were discovered in July of 2011.

Life is the maximum sentence for the class A felony of murder in the second degree. Life is generally calculated as thirty (30) years, by Missouri’s Department of Corrections.